Huawei moves into the cloud

Mobile phone launch takes communications giant into new Internet era

BEIJING - Huawei Device Co Ltd launched its first mobile phone offering cloud-based services on Wednesday, joining other Chinese companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc in the move to apply cloud computing technology in smartphones.

Huawei Device, the terminal branch of the world's No 2 telecommunication equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, launched a 3.7-inch touch screen mobile phone called "Vision" in its cloud phone global launch ceremony in Beijing on Wednesday.

The handset runs on the Android 2.3 operating system and is connected to Huawei's cloud platform. The cloud reserves 160 gigabytes (GB) of storage for every Huawei cloud phone user, and it can wirelessly push applications, music, photos and documents to users' devices automatically.

The service is similar to Apple Inc's iCloud for iPhone users which was introduced in June at Apple's annual developer summit. Apple said it plans to launch the service in September.

It appears that some Chinese companies, such as Alibaba and Shenzhen-based Yulong Technologies Co Ltd, which makes Coolpad smartphones, acted ahead of their foreign competitors in producing cloud-based smartphones.

Alibaba launched its first smartphone on July 28, using an internally developed operating system known as Aliyun. The handset provides cloud-based services, with 100 GB storage for each user.

Yulong, which analysts described as a Chinese smartphone maker with an unusually strong research and development ability, was presenting cloud phones as early as the beginning of this year.

China's Internet search engine giant Baidu has also hinted it could be developing a mobile operating system that allows smartphone users to perform a wide range of online activities through its web browser. "All the moves can only bring long-term strategic benefits for those Chinese companies, as the current Chinese telecom network cannot fully support the function of cloud-based mobile phones," Lu Libin, an analyst with Beijing-based research firm Analysys International, said.

Lu pointed out that customers can't fully enjoy the convenience of cloud phones unless the wireless networks provide a faster speed.

"We should wait for the 4G era to see the maturation of cloud-based smartphones," Lu added.

Sun Kai, telecom analyst with research firm GFK, said the cloud-based phones are suited to use in first- and second-tier cities, where 3G networks and WiFi hotspots are generally built up, but it isn't worthwhile for rural residents to buy an expensive cloud phone.

Huawei said its cloud-based smartphones will hit the Chinese market as soon as September, but it declined to reveal the price.

The company is drawing on the popularity of the 2011 Italian Supercoppa, with huge numbers of Chinese soccer fans, in the hope of promoting its cloud-computing smartphones.

Huawei is investing about 100 million yuan ($15.4 million) to become the sole sponsor of the soccer match, which is between the two top Italian teams - AC Milan and Inter Milan - and is about to be held in Beijing's iconic Olympics stadium, the Bird's Nest, on Aug 6.

"We hope Huawei Vision will sell more than 1 million units in China by the end of this year," Victor Xu, chief strategy and marketing officer of Huawei Device, told China Daily.

He added the handset is targeting "young social networkers".

First-half revenue of Huawei Device reached $4.2 billion, up 64 percent year-on-year.

The company shipped 72 million mobile phones in the same period, a 40 percent increase.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/04/2011 page15)