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This article was published May 1, 2016 at 09:45 hours.
the last change is the May 1, 2016 at 18:18 hours.
Until a couple of years ago who was buying one Huawei smartphone made him especially to save and was with suspicion. Today the Chinese group in Italy has a 19.7% market share (Gfk, the March data): “We did a good job but it is not enough,” says the Sole 24 Ore Walter Ji, president of Huawei’s consumer division for Western Europe. It is typical of Chinese companies – think what was done by Lenovo in the PC – climb the ranks very quickly with very ambitious goals. And, in fact, “in Italy today as volumes we’re No. 2, but within 2-3 years we want to be number one.”
It means removing the throne to Samsung. In third place is Apple, who was second until a few months ago but still leading when considering the margins and not the phones sold. Huawei for our country is the second largest market in the world in consumer. A division grew very rapidly: in 2015 of 60.8 billion dollars in global revenues, 20 came from the sale of devices; an increase of 73%. The networks instead totaled 35.8 billion (+ 21.4%) and enterprise 4.3 billion (+43.8%).
“In Italy we have built our foundation thanks to the relationship with the players and we have grown with the focus on retail. We have worked hard to buy and split up on an offer that many price ranges, “explains Daniele De Grandis, executive director of Huawei’s consumer in Italy. There were also significant investments in advertising and sponsorships, from football teams. The result is that today the Huawei brand is known by 87% of Italians.
Now is the time of the change of pace. With the new smartphone P9 “We want to supervise the premium area. We focus on innovation, from hardware capabilities and the camera thanks to an agreement with Leica, “continues Walter Ji. The partnership with the German company is very advertised, with clear logo under the phone’s camera and recently a Chinese website has raised a fuss online writing that the camera is produced in China, in the Sunny Optical factories. Just marketing? “No, now we talked about co-engineering with Leica – said Ji -. It is the beginning of a long process of collaboration: our research teams have been working together on this product. ” The companies did not enter into details, but said the “deep collaboration” is the development of algorithms, mechanical and optical. So this is an upstream work with Leica stands as guarantor of the quality even if the lens, it seems, does not come from its German factories but from those of a partner, perhaps for a topic of production capacity.
the phone costs 600 €, and for the first time pointing the richest part of the market, manned by Apple and Samsung. Already the P8 had allowed Huawei to increase its market share in the so-called medium price, ie EUR 400-500. The high-end allows for better margins? “We are a private company, not yet listed and are looking at a long-term strategy – meets Ji -. At the moment the focus is on innovation and service for consumers rather than the margins. ” It is still time to invest: only for the launch of the new product in Italy we speak of 15 million euro.
The Chinese brands suffer from a prejudice when it comes to quality? “We started working with the telecom infrastructure. We had to win the trust and we did it with quality and innovation. We are doing the same path with smartphones and the numbers give us reason, “emphasizes Ji. For smartphones, however, the race years are over: the latest IDC numbers photographing a globally stagnant market. And Apple has registered the first decline in profits for 13 years. “In Italy the market is growing again, maybe not in the double digits – says De Grandis -. What happens is that it is closing the gap between the established leaders and others. “
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