Huawei’s next target on SmartPhones

To combat the economic crisis, Huawei has decided to manufacture Android and Symbian based smartphones, which will be considerably cheaper than most smartphones, thus profiting of the inevitable situation. Better known to UK consumers as a manufacturer of mobile broadband modems, the company currently makes a Windows Mobile smartphone.

Huawei will offer these smart phones as own-label options for operators, like it does with Vodafone’s in-house range, rather than under Huawei branding.

“Huawei has had a late take-off in smartphones, but our focus on customization means we can still take the lead and achieve our targets” states James Chen, director of marketing , Huawei.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the Chinese company has released only one smartphone so far, based on a Windows Mobile platform, the lack of experience representing an important setback for most customers.

Huawei does not have a very appealing business card in smartphones area, but considering the strategy developed, it might just be the company of the future.

This Chinese equipment maker did not disclose details on the models it plans to produce or even how many phones it will be launching, but confirmed it would be working with Symbian and Android in the first half of 2009.