It has been reported that the Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei is planning to release the first phone with its brand name in the UK, in attempts at providing a stiff competition to the manufacturers who make phones based on Google’s Android platform in one of the most competitive mobile handset markets of Europe.
After initially having produced phones exclusively for carriers, the largest supplier of phone equipment in China is expected to launch its Blaze phone before the end of next month.
Within a period of 12 months, Huawei plans to achieve a market share of 4 to 5 percent, according to the company’s executive vice president in UK, Mark Mitchinson. Mitchinson, who has also earlier worked in companies such as Nokia and Samsung Electronics, said in an interview that the company will have to set up the brand almost right from scratch in the region. Huawei will compete with manufacturers who are involved in the Android market, he added.
The push of Huawei into the UK, which comes after the company’s first deal in mobile networks in the country, is the biggest step which it has taken in the Western European mobile device scene. Last year, 65% of the revenue of the company based in Shenzhen, China came from outside the Chinese territories. Its sales outside China registered a growth which was three times faster than its growth in the home market.
Huawei has chosen Android to be the OS for its mobile handsets after considering the platform’s rising popularity throughout the global market. This will make the company a direct competitor to the likes of HTC and Samsung Electronics who are currently the dominant Android manufacturers in the market.
Roberta Cozza, a UK based analyst who works for Gartner Inc., said that there are a lot of players which go with Android and they, unfortunately, will be continuously challenged. The 1% share which Huawei currently holds in the UK phone market could very well rise to 3% in one year, she said.
The Blaze phones are very likely to be competent in the category of low end smartphones, which come for as cheap as 100 pounds. Other devices which Huawei plans to launch in the UK market in the near future include a tablet named the MediaPad and another phone called the Vision.
