14 DAY TRIAL // Huawei Technologies has a strong expansion plan on the move that is turning its enemy into a friend - what it actually does is including the world economic crisis into its plans in a very productive way. Huawei Technologies is the new big name to join the Symbian foundation even if their main sales of mobile phones are represented by low-end feature devices.
Thus, the Chinese company tries to take advantage of the world economic crisis and believes that, in the next few years, the most important sales around the world will be represented by low-end feature phones, which means that their profits will increase. As a consequence, the whole company's profit will be based on sales of this type of devices. This would translate into no outside investments and more money in the company's pockets. Therefore, they have decided to manufacture Android and Symbian based smartphones, which will be considerably cheaper than most smartphones, thus profiting of the inevitable economic crisis.
The first Android and Symbian Huawei handsets which are to be released in 2009 will be distributed only by major operators and will not wear the brand of Huawei, but instead will display the distribution company's brand. Information about the design, price or other features has not been disclosed yet so we'll just have to wait and see.
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.