Chinese mobile titan denies spying, acquisition plans
By Kim Yoo-chul
A senior official of Huawei Technologies, the rising Chinese smartphone manufacturer, said the firm will increase investments for software to catch up with Samsung and LG.
The official, however, said Huawei won't follow the Samsung-style of cash-burning, aggressive marketing campaigns as it plans to focus on advertising and sponsorship from strategic partners for enhanced corporate awareness.
He also noted the firm won't pursue acquisition deals in the next few years in order to directly compete with Samsung while growing its corporate size.
"Samsung Electronics is doing a great job. We are impressed at the rise of the Koreans. But it is unlikely major acquisition deals will be coming in the next few years as our strategy is to promote value-added flagship models," said Scott Sykes, head of international media affairs, in a meeting with The Korea Times in Seoul, last week.
The vice president declined to comment about its internal sales target next year.
But Sykes said Huawei has been consistent in expanding business territories and boosting market shares over the last few years.
"Samsung is yielding good returns in return for spending more for marketing. Huawei plans to increase spending on research and development. This is our top initiative," said the executive. It is sourcing chips and LCDs from Samsung.
Huawei, founded by a former Chinese military engineer in 1987, was ranked fifth in terms of brand recognition in a recent survey by Strategy Analytics (SA), a market research firm.
Analysts have said Huawei is getting better brand recognition, possibly posing a threat to the industry leader Samsung as consumers are shifting toward mobile devices with competitive specifications and offering affordable prices amid the industry's saturation.
While Samsung, Apple and LG Electronics are pushing Galaxy-, i-, and Optimus-branded mobile devices, Huawei is following a similar branding-focused strategy by promoting Ascend-categorized devices such as Ascend P6, P2 and Mate.
Huawei plans to ship 60 million smartphones this year, or almost double the number from last year. He said it will be focusing more on the handset markets of China and countries in Western Europe.
"We are hiring more international talents from designers to research staffers as Huawei is devoting increased attention to smartphone software," said the executive, adding its unique "rotating CEO system" recommended by Mercer Consulting is playing a pivotal role in inspiring creativity and new thoughts before making critical business decisions.
No spying
While Huawei has been growing effectively, the U.S. market is wary as Huawei is not so strong there, hit by the company's alleged involvement in illegal activities.
Huawei is the world's No. 2 supplier of telecoms network gear after Sweden's Ericsson. Sykes said it is fully owned by its employees and denies being controlled by China's ruling Communist Party or the military.
Some U.S. lawmakers last year called Huawei a "potential national security threat" and recommended that leading American carriers avoid using Huawei's telecom equipment.
As with two-thirds of Huawei's revenue coming from outside mainland China, Sykes says it would be "corporate suicide" to act in a way that would make it lose the trust of its international customers.
"This is about protectionism," he said.
"We can confirm that we have never been asked to provide access to our technology, or provide any data or information on any citizen or organization to any government, or their agencies," Ken Hu, chairman of its global cyber security committee, said in the latest cyber security white paper.
The report was calling for companies and regulators to closely cooperate to set up global standards and for customers to press suppliers to improve security.
"The problem with standards today is that they are not standard. Governments, enterprises and technology vendors need to come up with common standards, understand their purpose and the positive difference they make. This is not about solving every problem, but it is about having a common agreement about what problems we are trying to solve and how they should be solved," said John Suffolk, the company's cyber security officer in a panel discussion at the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace 2013 in a Seoul hotel, last week.
During the conference, Huawei said the white paper is part of its efforts to address growing cyber security challenges in the mobile industry, jointly.
"There has been a significant shift globally towards greater cooperation on cyber security issues and more and more countries have adopted a pragmatic approach by adding security laws and regulations development to their agenda."
By Kim Yoo-chul
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| Scott Sykes Vice president of Huawei Technologies |
The official, however, said Huawei won't follow the Samsung-style of cash-burning, aggressive marketing campaigns as it plans to focus on advertising and sponsorship from strategic partners for enhanced corporate awareness.
He also noted the firm won't pursue acquisition deals in the next few years in order to directly compete with Samsung while growing its corporate size.
"Samsung Electronics is doing a great job. We are impressed at the rise of the Koreans. But it is unlikely major acquisition deals will be coming in the next few years as our strategy is to promote value-added flagship models," said Scott Sykes, head of international media affairs, in a meeting with The Korea Times in Seoul, last week.
The vice president declined to comment about its internal sales target next year.
But Sykes said Huawei has been consistent in expanding business territories and boosting market shares over the last few years.
"Samsung is yielding good returns in return for spending more for marketing. Huawei plans to increase spending on research and development. This is our top initiative," said the executive. It is sourcing chips and LCDs from Samsung.
Huawei, founded by a former Chinese military engineer in 1987, was ranked fifth in terms of brand recognition in a recent survey by Strategy Analytics (SA), a market research firm.
Analysts have said Huawei is getting better brand recognition, possibly posing a threat to the industry leader Samsung as consumers are shifting toward mobile devices with competitive specifications and offering affordable prices amid the industry's saturation.
While Samsung, Apple and LG Electronics are pushing Galaxy-, i-, and Optimus-branded mobile devices, Huawei is following a similar branding-focused strategy by promoting Ascend-categorized devices such as Ascend P6, P2 and Mate.
Huawei plans to ship 60 million smartphones this year, or almost double the number from last year. He said it will be focusing more on the handset markets of China and countries in Western Europe.
"We are hiring more international talents from designers to research staffers as Huawei is devoting increased attention to smartphone software," said the executive, adding its unique "rotating CEO system" recommended by Mercer Consulting is playing a pivotal role in inspiring creativity and new thoughts before making critical business decisions.
No spying
While Huawei has been growing effectively, the U.S. market is wary as Huawei is not so strong there, hit by the company's alleged involvement in illegal activities.
Huawei is the world's No. 2 supplier of telecoms network gear after Sweden's Ericsson. Sykes said it is fully owned by its employees and denies being controlled by China's ruling Communist Party or the military.
Some U.S. lawmakers last year called Huawei a "potential national security threat" and recommended that leading American carriers avoid using Huawei's telecom equipment.
As with two-thirds of Huawei's revenue coming from outside mainland China, Sykes says it would be "corporate suicide" to act in a way that would make it lose the trust of its international customers.
"This is about protectionism," he said.
"We can confirm that we have never been asked to provide access to our technology, or provide any data or information on any citizen or organization to any government, or their agencies," Ken Hu, chairman of its global cyber security committee, said in the latest cyber security white paper.
The report was calling for companies and regulators to closely cooperate to set up global standards and for customers to press suppliers to improve security.
"The problem with standards today is that they are not standard. Governments, enterprises and technology vendors need to come up with common standards, understand their purpose and the positive difference they make. This is not about solving every problem, but it is about having a common agreement about what problems we are trying to solve and how they should be solved," said John Suffolk, the company's cyber security officer in a panel discussion at the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace 2013 in a Seoul hotel, last week.
During the conference, Huawei said the white paper is part of its efforts to address growing cyber security challenges in the mobile industry, jointly.
"There has been a significant shift globally towards greater cooperation on cyber security issues and more and more countries have adopted a pragmatic approach by adding security laws and regulations development to their agenda."
