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Huawei's flagship phablet is only $300 in China, and its CMO explains why
Huawei's recently announced MediaPad X1 has caused quite a stir -- it's the lightest and smallest-ever 7-inch tablet (let alone a phablet), while also packing decent features like a 1,920 x 1,200 display, 5,000mAh battery and 150 Mbps LTE. The retail price quoted at the launch event was €399 or about $550 for the LTE model, but back in China, it appears that Huawei's slapped an insane discount on the same quad-core tablet, albeit under a slightly different name. Dubbed the Honor X1, the 3G model will retail for just CN¥1,799 or about $290, and the 4G version will go for just CN¥1,999 or $330. That's a $220 drop for the LTE model! So when we caught up with Huawei Device's CMO Shao Yang at MWC, we had to ask him: What was he thinking? Well, it's all about the way consumers perceive this device in different regions.
Huawei outlines plan to regain its share of European smartphone market
Last year, Huawei's Device Business Group set an ambitious goal of shipping 60 million smartphones, but managed only 32 million, keeping it out of IDC's top five smartphone vendors in 2012. That said, for Q4 that same year Huawei did finally break into top three, but it didn't change the fact that it had been a tough period for Huawei's smartphone division, especially for its CMO Shao Yang (pictured above with his 6.1-inch Ascend Mate). At the 2013 Huawei Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen yesterday, the exec was kind enough to share his side of the story about the hurdles his team faced last year -- the period when Huawei was transforming from an original design manufacturer (ODM) to serve others, to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in order to build devices according to its own specifications.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Huawei's Richard Yu (updated x2)
This may not have been a huge mobile show for most companies (what with MWC just over the horizon), but Huawei certainly has lots to talk about. The CEO of the company's consumer business group Richard Yu will be hitting the stage today and bringing along some goods to show off, too. Update: Unfortunately Yu had to pull out at the last minute, so instead we will be meeting Huawei Device CMO Shao Yang at the same time slot. Stay tuned! Update 2: False alarm! Richard Yu will be joining us, after all! January 10, 2013 5:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!
