Huawei launches cloud computing smartphones
China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No. 2 network equipment maker, launched its cloud computing smartphones on Wednesday, looking to ride a mobile industry boom that drove a 64 percent sales rise in its devices unit in the first half. The company, known for its low-cost cellphones, is betting its new model will help it replicate its telecom gear success in the booming smartphone market and take on the likes of Nokia, Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics. Huawei's Cloud+ platform will allow users to store music, video, pictures, email and some other applications on its remote servers and access them via the Internet through their smartphones. "We are targeting at what we call the young social networkers for this smartphone," Victor Xu, chief strategy and marketing officer for Huawei Device, told reporters in Beijing at the launch of its "Vision" smartphones. Huawei is targeting 2011 shipments of more than one million units of the smartphone, which comes with the blockbuster Angry Birds game pre-installed. Company executives declined to provide any details of the pricing but said that the smartphone would not sell for less than 2,000 yuan ($305). Apple's iPhone 4 sells for 4,999 yuan or $762 in China. Cloud computing smartphones will allow users to download applications without needing much storage space on their devices. Huawei follows Apple in pushing ahead the fast-growing new consumer market after the U.S. company unveiled its Web-based iCloud service in June. Huawei's new 9.9-mm, 121-g phone runs on Google's Android 2.3 operating system and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip.
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