Huawei throws hat into smart phones ring with planned Android range

Stan Beer
Thursday, 11 December 2008 07:32

IT Industry - Strategy

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies has unveiled plans to enter the smart phones market using the Android platform in 2009. As a future maker of Android smart phones, Huawei has also joined the Google-led Open Handset Alliance.

With the announced entry of Sony and Sony Ericcson to the OHA earlier this week, the alliance's numbers have now swelled to 48 and the momentum is building for the Linux-based Android mobile handsets platform, which includes the operating system, middleware, user-friendly interfaces, and applications.

According to Huawei, the company has established strategic partnerships with most of the OHA's members, including China Mobile, Telefónica, and T-Mobile.

Mr. Li Jilin, Huawei Communication’s vice president said, “Huawei sees potential in the operator resale market, and is relying on its insight into mobile communication trends and operators’ requirements to further explore the mobile field to meet the varied demands of operators and users.

“Joining the Open Handset Alliance is an important step in Huawei’s global strategy. Currently, we’re developing smart phones on the Android platform, which we plan to launch in 2009. We believe that the Android platform will transform the mobile life experience for users around the world. Huawei is dedicated to playing an important role in this transformation.”

The phenomenal interest and growth in the smart phones space now taking place, however, has been sparked and driven by the Apple iPhone and to a lesser extent RIM's Blackberry range, both of which use proprietary operating platforms.