“In Barcelona this week, the annual Mobile World Congress had halls packed full with glossy stands from the world’s biggest technology brands,” Matt Warman reports for The Telegraph. “But it wasn’t just Qualcomm and Intel making themselves conspicuous on Spain’s north-west coast”. China’s Huawei was one of the few brands with not one but two enormous stands. And, perhaps more so than any other company in Barcelona, the Chinese giant’s message was clear. Already dominant in the infrastructure crucial to modern communications, now it also wants to be as big a brand for consumers as any other in the world.”
Warman reports, “Wan Biao is the chief executive of Huawei Devices, the division of the company leading the charge to move from controversial infrastructure provider to a top global company whose products consumers aspire to own. He’s aiming for nothing less than challenging Samsung and Apple… ‘If you look back five years ago, Apple is small, Samsung is not so big,’ says Wan. ‘You can’t see where we’ll be in five years. At least top three. Maybe number one.'”
“From a company that wasn’t backed by all the power and funding that China has to offer, these vaulting ambitions would sound absurd. But when the claims come from Huawei they are well worth listening to,” Warman reports. “Wan is shrewd, too. Asked if Huawei can really join Samsung and Apple in such a short time, his archness is apparent even through a translator: ‘I can’t predict who the other two will be.'”
Warman reports, “Whatever the truth of the suspicions that swirl around the company, Huawei indisputably has a brand problem: if you want to take on Apple and Samsung, consumers need to know you’re not spying for China.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
U.S. House Intelligence Committee’s attack on China’s Huawei, ZTE could trigger major crisis – October 10, 2012
U.S. House Intelligence Committee: China’s Huawei, ZTE should be ban in U.S. – October 8, 2012
‘If you look back five years ago, Apple is small, Samsung is not so big,’ says Wan. ‘You can’t see where we’ll be in five years. At least top three. Maybe number one.’”
Apple was “small” five years ago?? LMAO
“Samsung is not so big”??
I think Mr. Wan’s been getting a little too deep into his opium stash.
They can compete with Samsung but not Apple. They can compete in the Big Mac copycat business but they won’t invent anything, and they won’t make anything great. Samsung doesn’t really compete with Apple. Samsung, the media, and Wall Street think they do but I don’t know one person who goes back and forth between the Apple Store and Samsung deciding which to buy.
Compete? Huawei steals tech on a level that makes Samsung look like pikers. And they leave backdoors in their tech for the ChiComms spy apparatus. Want your data stolen? Use a Huawei device.
Mmm ye. It’s always the trust issue. Huawei might be doing nothing like that but that does not matter. Trust it earned over a long time. Anyway. The god thing with Huawei is that it’s a company bit owned by the state. It’s a company owned entirely by the workers. So the government is not directly meddling in what they are doing. But, again. Trust is an issue.
The only way for Huawei to beat Apple would be for the Chinese government to buy Apple and take it private. That and Huawei should westernize the brand name, kinda like samdung.
“Samsung” is westernized? Only if you are talking western SE Asia.
Lucky Goldstar shortened its name to LG. Perhaps Samsung should shorten its name to SS?
“SS” <-HA! Ironically relevant. But oops, I've fallen for Godwin's Law. 😆
The only way for Huawei to beat Apple would be for the Chinese government to buy Apple and take it private.
Another reason to be thankful for Apple’s stash-o-cash. No one is going to buy Apple. No one could ever make Apple private but Apple. I like it.
First, how about lessons on how to pronounce your company’s name.
Here ya go bro:
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/hooey
The fact is that China has a well-deserved reputation for making junk. How they intend to overcome this problem remains to be seen.
Japan did it.
1 Very good observation. There are so many fools and Kool-Aid drinkers on this site that have no common sense. Many are young and inexperienced but most are stupid. There is no excuse for being a fanboy. Fanboys are simply people who use no logic or common sense. How many phones was Samsung selling three years ago………………………….? Yeah, they’ll never sell any phones as long as the iPhone is out there. Right? They may be knockoffs. Samsung may be a copycat. It doesn’t fucking matter you morons. Apple doesn’t have the whole world to itself anymore. And never will again. Whether you like it or not the iPhone has fierce competition from the Android camp. How’s your AAPL doing lately? Anyone who thinks that the Chinese wouldn’t rather buy from a Chinese company simply don’t understand that part of the world. They want to and will. They love knockoffs and will gladly buy a Chinese made smartphone that does many of the things that the iPhone and Android phones do. They already buy millions of cheap Chinese smart phones. If a Chinese manufacturer can make a good glitzy smart phone, the race will really be on in China. And they’re quite capable of selling to the rest of the world. If they are successful in China. Remember the Chinese government will give them a helping hand if need be. So for all the fanboys who want to make fun of this company get ready to grab your ass with both hands because it will happen. This company or another, it will happen eventually.
Points taken. You dispense practical advice to casual investors and Lord know they need it. One thing that puzzles me though is your attitude toward fanboys. Most of them are not investors, just opinionated customers. Do you mean to single out just those who say they hold APPL and call for sanctions, or restraint, where you think it is obvious what to do to anyone with critical thinking skills? Your explosive attacks are scattershot, wonderfully concentrated, and fascinating, but I need to fan myself after. Mind, I say you are not wrong; only suffering fools ungladly. Help me understand why, if you despise them so, will you continue to shout into the wilderness? Is it because you do care, and believe that only “tough love” will suffice?
Is the stock market an IQ Test?
Well I don’t feel the need to write eloquently or use flowery rhetoric to impress everyone. Guess I’m just not narcissistic? But we all appreciate your efforts. Including the amateur psychoanalysis. Perhaps your acute observations should be directed inward? Just saying.
Nor, apparently, do you feel the need to write intelligently. Your arrogance, unencumbered by insight, gives us a good view of a narcissist and a stellar example of the Dunning-Krueger Effect.
“Better to stay silent and be thought a fool, than to say something and prove it.” Attributed to Mark Twain
Well I’m glad that you read Twain. I enjoy him also. But your other half could have answered for himself. Well, maybe not. Sounds like you must make a fine pair.
Like sand
through the hourglass
so are the days of our lives …
*rotating hourglass*
“Whether you like it or not the iPhone has fierce competition from the Android camp. How’s your AAPL doing lately?”
What’s stupid is trying to equate Apple’s current stock price to how well they’re doing in the market (i.e., not “Stock Market”.
Well done for pointing out that simple but pertinent fact, only stock holders are suffering at the moment and few Apple fans/customers (fanboys or otherwise) are stock holders. Sanity is something perhaps that the market traders and analysts could read up about.
GM,
I guess you are an Apple hating fool? A Chinese company can copy anything from a western country but even the Chinese know quality when they see it and will sacrifice in order to get an iPhone or a better device. That’s why Apple is doing great in China and in the rest of the world, people know an Apple product from a knock-off. Knock-offs are good platforms to upgrade to the real thing, not the other way around my friend. So, Huawei, whatever way, welcome yourself to the land of wanna-be’s.
Are you serious? Most Apple products are made in China!
I would not under estimate China. We in the ‘west’ always say, ‘yeh, but they are not creative like we are’ and so forth. People anywhere all have creative ability, and can look one step ahead which is often all it takes to be in the ballpark. They are very aggressive, and will work 12/7 or more to achieve their goals.
rr11,
“People anywhere all have creative ability, and can look one step ahead which is often all it takes to be in the ballpark. ”
I hear what you said, but I do not think its so true. You also need an eco-system that allows you to move forward after the idea. In China, its ALL politics and mostly not for the good.
And in Japan, kids are always taught to follow. And I mean BIG time. Follow and do not upset the flow. You do not see a green peace from Japan getting in the way of things, just following.
JAT
en
Japan is conservative, as evidenced by their attitude about whaling. It seems that in a world you’d think could share common values, each country, each culture, each region has its Achilles’ Heel, its blind spot, its economic shibboleth.
I agree the fact is that soon they will not actually need the Western markets and it is then that we will find our imports wont be so cheap and our importance to the tech world less than idea. Ironically Apple is better placed to handle that than most which is why Dell is going down the pan and HP wants to get out of computers altogether. IBM had the sense to be first in that respect and I was practically a kid the last time anyone could say that.
History lesson number one: China invented gunpowder to give the west their bang, back then we were considered savages by the Chinese.
Huawei like most Chinese names are hard to pronounce but this is just a western exposure problem but it would be easier and cheaper to rebrand for retail now even “Youway” would be better.
The CIA and FBI have already placed developers into companies like Microsoft, CISCO, Nortel and others to ensure they know the back doors. So it was logical that Huawei had done the same and that the US was going to create a scare campaign to undermine the company and reduce western coverage.
Westerners living and working in China have a local district dossier on all of their activities, a friend of mine has seen his after 2 years it was at least 300 pages, he was told that all the porn sites he had visited were now blocked but that the police still had access to these.
Some of you will laugh as this and say it is a conspiracy theory, I say look into history “Electric Golf Ball Typewriter Company was hacked during the cold war by Russia to stop defections” and recently MI5 was caught using dead teenagers passports to setup long term credentials for future agents.
Like a very hard game of chess these guys are thinking steps years in advance.
Now if China had intended to invent Gun powder that might be saying something. The invention of gun powder was an accident. They were trying to make some traditional herbal medicine / remedy. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
Barcelona is in the north-west of Spain now?
Inspires confidence in the rest of the reporting, doesn’t it?
the huwaei phones i have seen in display stands in Westfield’s shopping centres are nothing but a copy of old samsung smart phones using andriod operating systems. the only benefit they have over the originals samsungs upon which they are based is that they are cheaper. so bottom feeders will buy them. as for aspiration for huwaei to be desirable like apple is wishful thinking, there is no way this copy shop company can compete with apple in originality. and what will huwaie do about operating system of its own, how can they challenge apple which had the vibrant app store and iTunes ?
Although I don’t believe any of these companies can match Apple in innovation, profits etc I do believe that Apple should up it’s PR.
Companies like Huawei are spinning about themselves and bashing apple and many other companies as well.
Every couple of weeks Google via Andy Rubin or some of their other copy cats voice some nonsense about ‘Android Activations’ without talkinga about profits — and the Press and Wallstreet write articles like “Apple the fading tech giant is rapidly losing market share to Android … “. Google sends full time evangelists around the world giving talks about how apple has lost innovation and that’s why its resorting to lawsuits. ETC.
meanwhile apple keeps its mouth shut regardless of the absurd urban legends growing around it. “It’s fading, lost its edge, Samsung smart-phones are better… etc”
Apple doesn’t almost no PR. It’s spends little in advertising , Samsung alone spends several times apple’s marketing budget (see the charts in Asymco). A few years ago Msft spent 3 times apple’s ad budget. Last year Google out spent Apple 9 times in lobbying (result apple gets stuck in stupid DOJ lawsuit while google gets a slap on the wrist for various infractions … )
Apple hasn’t run an imac or mac mini ad for years. With Windows 8 Vista turning off users Apple doesn’t bother to run any ads against it either (remember mac PC guy? Last ad in 2009 , nothing replaced it ) or EVEN TALK ABOUT IT ! (Cook has hardly ever mentioned that OSX is better than Win 8 !!)
Potential PC switchers I know hesitate to move to apple because either they think OSX is as bad as Win 8 or they ‘got monitors they do not want to waste’ : i. e they think apple only sells imacs because even with the new mac mini model Apple does not Advertise mac Minis and apple doesn’t advertise that OSX is Good !
(people have argued with me saying that Apple should not bother to advertise because they can’t make stuff fast enough anyways.
B.S.
1) most mac models like the mini are not supply constrained yet they don’t advertise them.
2) perhaps apple should get their act together and meet demand?
3) occasionally they DO advertise for products supply constrained like iPhones because ads freeze sales to rivals )
This disaster in PERCEPTION (about apple) is clearly seen in the tanking of the stock price: 40% down — and the P.E (price over earnings ) ratio. The earnings are still good but because the ‘perception’ is bad so the P.E gets COMPRESSED. Ex cash Apple’s P.E is less than half the AVERAGE of the S&P 500 (less than even some half dead utility companies). that means the perception of most of these companies are better than apple’s.
Every time Cook opens his mouth the result is that the stock tanks and the mainline press writes negative articles. Cook does not have the ability to ‘spin’ stuff. The only thing my non Apple friends remember about Cook talking was when he apologized for Maps saying that ‘Nokia and Google makes better maps than Apple”.
Apple never did much PR but when Jobs was alive he was one man PR army. His talks at Mac world etc were WORKS of ART. Everyone clung to his discussions at AllThingsD . He was on the cover of Time and Newsweek when he launched new products like iPhone. And Jobs had an uncanny ability to present apple in a POSITIVE LIGHT (critics called it ‘reality distortion’ ). Now with steve gone Apple needs to up its PR.
Apple has already lost it’s luster with many investors (re: 40% stock drop) and with the Barrage of Negative Apple news in the mainline press it’s beginning to get tarnished in the minds of some consumers (do people want to buy from a ‘fading company, failing tech giant ‘ as Reuters, CNN etc describe apple?) . The Brand Keys poll which polls 39,000 consumers (very large sample size for polls now puts samsung as No.1 brand and apple behind. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Samsung-Apple-Customer-Loyalty-iPhone,20933.html
Apple needs to up it’s PR because right now the Mainstream press, the financial press and Financial Analysts, politicians, social groups, etc are using Apple as a daily punching bag (and apple is practically doing squat about it).
(I expect to get flamed as usual because regardless how logical I can voice my arguments and point to clear reality like 40% tank in stock due to perception, some people can not stomach ANY criticisms of apple. They stubbornly use their HOCKEY PUCK apple mouse (apple NEVER makes a bad decision) to criticize my post .. )
WOW, just wow. And the world is ending, the USA will crash this year, and the second coming is near. Yep and cause you heard it on the internet,,,,, its true. I saw that commercial… lol
PS, the 40 % apple stock tank is my dogs fault. Every time he farts, Apple drops 5%. And he has been ill this month. And its true cause I said so….. and its on the internet.
Apple as a company is DOOMED cause their stock is low. The $ 140 BILLION does not matter, the selling great products does not matter, the getting 65% of the WORLDS PROFIT in cell phone sales DOES NOT MATTER….. the stock is down so Apple is doomed….. I read it on the internet so its true.
Does Apple have problems…. sure… But not as bad as Dell and Dell is doing everything you say…. so maybe if my dog feels better Apples stock will go up. /s
Just saying here. PS it does not matter cause the world will end on 12/12/13. They were just off a year. PS. I saw the movie on the internet…. so its going to happen.
PPS. Facts and reality don’t matter, its all spin and hot air that is critical .
like I said no matter how logical…
so it’ll HURT apple if they did some pr and cancel out the ‘apple is failing’ news in the press?
If they can’t ‘waste’ Cooks or the other SVPs time perhaps a big company like apple can hire more PR people?
so if apple doesn’t have a PERCEPTION problem how do YOU explain the P.E compression lower than S&P average plus 40% drop? Earnings are good so why the drop except that big investors perceive apple is going down… ?
So you think that apple’s current PR image (go do a quick look at the numerous BS articles about Apple losing innovation, missed estimates etc) is Good? the BS against apple is relentless, nearly every month Samsung or google talks to the press saying apple goes to lawsuits because it can’t innovate (and apple does nothing to fight back)
even Apple’s old evangelist Guy Kawasaki has gone to work for Google.
If you think that 40% drop matters nothing to apple, look at the fact that shareholders via the board fired the CEO’s of Palm, Nokia, HP (severa, times) , rim (the founders), Acer etc 9 (and these are only tech companies) and remember what dissatisfied investors did to Jobs the first time around with Sculley?
NO. I’m NOT saying shareholder interference is good thing, it’s BAD. I’m saying doing a bit more PR (a painless and relatively cheap thing vs bigger dividends etc) can perhaps cut this off from the possibility of ever happening.
we can see a little bit that Cook has a problems with marketing , besides all the points I put out about lack of ads, Cook also hired Browlett to led retail (a marketing operation). The aim was that browlett will ‘trim costs’ (from the most profitable retail operation per sauare foot in the world)…. Simlarly the ‘trim costs’ thing seems to go gointo PR and marketing and lobbying. As apple is getting embroiled in giant DOJ case, and lawsuits with international trade bodes why is Google’s lobbying budget 9 times larger than apples?
(if you think PR is not important why do you think companies spend tens of billions on it and on marketing? Why does google make all thoses billions? all these business people are stupid?)
yeah apple IS making a lot of money because of superior products but inferior companies are getting better press, better stock gains ) etc due to perception.
and before you say ‘screw the shareholders’ .. Cook has a LEGAL obligation to the shareholders.
Like I said why are all jumping on me, what is WRONG with apple doing better P.R? (you can’t say the PR is good due to the stock price and the press articles). It’s like tennis player having a good forehand (apple with products) but me suggesting they should also work on their footwork and backhand (PR and marketing) and you guys go ballistic.
How is your hockey puck mouse, your PING account etc. (apple never makes mistakes according to you all… )
Well I must say that I agree that Apple oughta get some PR improvements because my keyboard is getting worn out 😉
Apple should nip the propaganda that has been streaming in lately. Not that I can speak with the dead, but given Steve Jobs track record when issues arose, I think he would have been much more vocal. He was great. I never speak as a stock owner (I don’t own any of the stock). But it’s been an enjoyable experience since my first purchase of a PowerComputing PowerCenter 120 (Mac clone), and then onward. I love technology. Apple makes some good shit *.
If you own the stock you can also do some PR of your own when you see some lowlife stating BS that may affect your stock. Apple should also be more vocal. It was great (and funny) how Steve addressed the supposed “antennagate” issue (taking out the competitors phones and showing the same issue.) He was extremely driven to stop said BS. And had the intellect to do so. I think Tim Cook is very capable of not hiding behind the curtain and being more vocal but I’m giving him more time before I judge. He’s doing awesome in continuing the momentum of the product line so far. And as a consumer that is truly what I care about.
If other companies make products that are as great as what Apple has been creating, there is no use for me to switch because I already have it. Huawei would really have to impress me (and prove the Chinese govt. is not tracking me) for me to leave the iOS and OS X ecosystem. That would be a welcome feat because it would have to be pretty amazing to actually top what Apple currently delivers product-wise.
* Sorry 3I3c7ro I mean no harm.
@ eldernorm
you don’t seem to understand “apple needs PR .. ” post at all.
He’s not saying that apple is Doomed as you scream out, he’s saying that although the earnings are good the P.E is low and that shows that apple has a perception problem.
I.e apple is doing well but apple is seen as having problems by the press etc.
he’s pointing out that there are many articles in press article that paints a negative picture of apple, that apple need to do some defense otherwise the stock will continue to tank with negative consequences.
Certainly, the relational oriented members of the press are used to the Steve Jobs approach to PR: His charisma, his spin skills (‘reality distortion field’) as well as his enthusiasm mixed with inventiveness. None of those things has Tim Cook. It’s not his skill set or personality. And yet he has been doing great as CEO and interim CEO for years now.
As I am also NOT a relational oriented person (obviously), I simply laugh at all the ‘Apple Bear’ bullshit loons. They’re all upset about what amounts to not getting a valentine’s card from Apple. BFD.
Certainly, in the short term, it would be great to get one of the Apple marketing mavens active on the mouthpiece talking intelligently and succinctly back to the ‘Apple Bears’. In the long term, Apple remains unstoppably creative. They continue to THRIVE and will continue to THRIVE. Boohoo that Wall Street meanwhile FAILs to do much more than blow blowhard bubbles in the air, which we all know are going to pop. And Apple will continue to float along on top because it doesn’t need pneumatic PR to remain successful. 😀
@ derek currie
I don’t have a problem with your post.
the only thing I have to add is:
if there was a EITHER OR choice : i.e innovate OR P.R then by all means 100% Innovate.
as a shareholder I’ll rather apple innovate and build than anything else (that’s long term share growth)
but it’s NOT an EITHER OR choice.
apple can innovate like crazy AND also spend a little of their massive resources to correct the BS bad press it’s getting.
(example every month Andy Rubin, schmidt or one of their evangelists bad mouths apple and it drives me crazy that apple says nothing in defense. And Goog is at it’s 52 week high and apple 52 week low. and I even own some google stock! bought before schmidt turned mole. I don’t sell until i retire so I don’t pay so much tax. ).
Investors are the canary in the coal mine, they tend to act very fast… what I’m worry about too as I mentioned is that if apple gets painted as ‘failing, not innovative etc’ by the press continuously its (still currently great brand and massive) sales might get affected. Polls are still positive but like the marketing poll I linked to: some are now for the first time showing samsung as being considered as being more innovative etc ( NO for the flamers I’m NOT saying that samsung is better is TRUE, I’m saying that’s what some polls are saying because the negative B.S is starting to have some effect on non mainstream consumers. Yeah apple is selling gazillons but maybe with better P.R it could sell gazillons more? )
no one can deny that the press (CNBC, CNN, reuters , NYTs, Forbes etc) nowadays continously run negative apple articles (failing, lost innovation, android ahead etc). I’m NOT saying it’s true, it is B.S but that’s building the perception.
also I’m scared the big shareholders, the funds own 70% of appl, will do something Stupid like what they did with Jobs – Sculley first time around if the shares stick at 40% down. (it’s already starting with Einhorn — he would never try his tricks if the stock was 700 now , neither would shareholders demand more dividends from apple’s cash pile etc … )
typos :
one of them:
“negative B.S is starting to have some effect on non mainstream consumers.. ” should of course be “mainstream consumers”.
—
no edit function on MDN
Number one in China maybe. But it’s true, Huawei is popping up everywhere these days. I don’t know why their devices are any more special so maybe it’s just the they are now expanding we get the perception they are going to dominate. I just ordered Mobile LTE Broadband a few weeks ago and the modem came from Huawei.
China is tracking you now.
Huwaei products are known in the security community as a Grade A security risk. All their enterprise and internet backbone routers have built in back doors and with sub standard coded/built boards. Their enterprise stuff is being dropped like flies in the first world countries.
The enterprise doesn’t like us, so lets build consumer products now.
They are the go to backbone hardware in 2nd and third world countries. They beat everyone’s pricing by 25 to 30%.
‘If you look back five years ago, Apple is small, Samsung is not so big,’ says Wan. ‘You can’t see where we’ll be in five years. At least top three. Maybe number one.’”
Haha. Nope. Try going back another 20 years… Mr. Uh.. who are you?
Can Hauwei actually INVENT anything?
We already know that Samsung is NOTHING in the market without Apple to ripoff and Google to provide the OS.
Is Hauwei just another Chinese ripoff company, with no ability to invent anything? Yes, that’s the cliché caricature, but sadly it fits, with few exceptions. It’s the inevitable effect of that fraud called ‘communism’.
And then there’s this:
“Whatever the truth of the suspicions that swirl around the company, Huawei indisputably has a brand problem: if you want to take on Apple and Samsung, consumers need to know you’re not spying for China.”
China’s cover is blown, never to hide their trolls-of-the-world bad attitude ever again. So no, you can keep your phones and all that other security back-door infested crapware as well China. 😛
LOL, yeah. I’d definitely wait for the 1,000 page Engadget breakdown review on that one.
If not for US’ hostility and protectionism policies, Huawai might have already been overtaken Apple and Samsung.