LeEco set to take on US rivals

SAN FRANCISCO: A Chinese Internet colossus referred to as a combination of Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Tesla announced on Wednesday it is taking on the United States tech titans on their home turf.

LeEco is jumping into a fiercely competitive US smartphone market with LePro 3 and its “little brother” Le S3, pricing them lower than flagship models from rivals to entice people over to its “ecosystem” of online offerings.

LePro 3 will be priced at US$399 (RM1,671.81) and Le S3 at US$249 when they become available to US buyers at the company’s LeMall.com e-commerce website on November 2.

Analysts expected it to take more than bargains on handsets to win people away from what Apple and Google provide when it comes to meshing mobile devices with digital content, applications and services.

“Oftentimes people are locked incto ecosystems,” said Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

“The trouble for LeEco is they have to create something that is going to impress people enough to switch.”

The LeEco cloud service was portrayed as a nervous-system of sorts that would connect the company’s various devices and be a conduit for digital content and services.

Apple and Google have invested heavily in meshing devices, software and content to get people to play, work and shop in “ecosystems” the companies have built.

LeEco founder and chief executive Jia Yueting set a goal of winning hearts and minds in the key North America market before moving to lure the rest of the world into the LeEco ecosystem. AFP