Huawei has been working very hard to become a well respected and well known brand here in the United States, but it just can’t seem to break through. Recently, we’ve seen the company basically give up, as it has yet to launch a high-end flagship device in the country. Much of this has been due to the security concerns the United States government has regarding Huawei. Back in October, a report emerged from Congress claiming that Huawei’s “provision of equipment to U.S. critical infrastructure could undermine core U.S. national-security interests.” The United States also believes that “Huawei-made telecommunications equipment is designed to allow unauthorized access by the Chinese government and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.” All of this, as we mentioned before, has led to trouble for Huawei when trying to grow in the United States market.
In a recent interview, Huawei’s vice president of marketing, Bob Cai, commented on the security concerns that plague the company in the United States. He explained that the company is still expected to grow in 2013, but that the U.S. security concerns will hinder the company’s further expansion. The company expects its mobile division to grow 10 percent this year, after 11 percent growth in 2012. Huawei is expected to announce its 2012 earnings later this month, but its mobile division posted revenues of $7.4 billion in 2011.
The United States is one of the few counties Huawei is struggling in right now. Cai says that his company has already built trust with many European carriers and is a very well-respected and popular brand in many European countries. “We’ve already built trust,” he said while explaining the company’s success. Many people assume that consumers choose Huawei devices because they are cheap, but Cai says that is not the case in any way. “Some European carriers have actually complained to us that the prices we offer are too high, higher than competitors like Nokia.” Nearly 70 percent of Huawei’s revenue comes from Western Europe.
Overall, Huawei is still expected to grow this year, just not as much as it would have hoped. The manufacturer wants to break through into the United States, but simply can’t because of the security concerns of the government.
Source: WSJ