China’s Huawei has been working to find ways into the U.S. market for years. On the handset side, what better way than forging a close relationship with Google? That appears to be in the offing. According to reports today, Huawei is releasing a new Android-based phone next week. While any vendor can release a device based on the OS, apparently Huawei took it a step forward and worked closely with Google on the new Android 2.2-based device.
The Wall Street Journal has more details:
The news from Huawei, which has a record of beating Western rivals’ prices for communications equipment, raises the question of whether its Android handsets will compete on price in a largely high-end smartphone market. Glory Cheung, a spokeswoman for Huawei, said prices for innovative smartphones must be lowered for mobile broadband services to reach more users, and that Huawei’s new phone will be “highly competitive price-wise.”
Connected Planet’s take,
Kevin Fitchard:
Huawei is echoing countryman ZTE, which has its own U.S. smartphone ambitions. Huawei and ZTE have both made their marks by producing low-cost entry-level phones with feature-phone capabilities, often under the operator’s brand. A mid-tier or even entry-level smartphone isn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially if it’s built on a free operating system like Android.
ZTE and Huawei both have the advantage of China-based development and manufacturing, which allows them to undercut the competition in costs. But technically any of the major vendors can build a low-cost Android phone. It’s just a question of whether they want push prices low for devices they enjoy high margins on today. ZTE and Huawei probably don’t have such inhibitions.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below:
It will be interesting to see at what price point the phone is retailed at.