Huawei expands retail presence in Philippines
HUAWEI, which is known for its telecom network infrastructure and pocket Wi-Fi devices, is aggressively expanding its retail presence in the Philippines and is targeting a market share of five to 10 percent in the smartphone segment in the next two to three years.
On Saturday, Huawei opened the Huawei Brand Experience Lounge in SM City Cebu Cyberzone, the company’s first in the Visayas and fifth in the Philippines.
Huawei Device Philippines country manager Charles Wu said the company currently holds two percent of the market, reasoning that the present share is attributed to its recent entry as a smart phone brand in the country.
“We are making the consumers love the brand first,” he said. Huawei entered the Philippines as a smartphone brand just last year.
Huawei smartphones, according to Wu, are popular in Europe and China. The company said it ranked third in global smart phone shipments last year.
In the Philippines, Wu said it shipped 200,000 Huawei smart phones in 2013. This year, the number of phones shipped went up 300 percent, said Huawei Device Philippines marketing head Al M. Dimapilis.
Huawei is known as a provider of telecommunication infrastructure for telcos around the world. Of 50 telcos glob- ally, Wu said 45 of them use Huawei’s telco solutions.
Its recent entry in the market as a smart phone brand is part of its thrust of completing the telco experience, according to Dimapilis.
“Huawei, we’re known to be a provid- er of network infrastructure to key major telcos not only in Philippines but also globally. To complete the telco network experience, we’re now providing the consumer experience,” he said.
In previous years, Huawei produced white-label smart phones that carry other brands. With its venture as a smart phone brand, Dimapilis said it has also stopped producing white-label units.
Huawei has 17 smartphone models segregated under Y (youth market), P (fashion market), G (value-for-money seekers) and D (technology enthusiasts) categories.
The Huawei Brand Lounge highlights the flagship model Ascend P7, which the company said was named Best Smartphone for 2014-2015 by the European Imaging Sound Association.
Huawei phones, according to Wu, are optimized to work with Huawei’s 3G and 4G LTE network solutions, which are being used by major telecom companies.
“Our phones have faster signal detection which also means a save on the battery life,” said Dimapilis.