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Huawei preps to drop mobile & wearables lovebombs on U.S.
C'mon Americans, pleeeeease love our cuddly Chinese firm
Chinese comms kit giant Huawei plans to try to woo American consumers in a marketing blitz promoting its mobes and wearables in the US – a country where it has failed to expand thanks to national security concerns expressed by the White House.
On a number of occasions over the past few years, Huawei – which has a strong relationship with one-time British state monopoly telecom firm BT – has had to back away from Stateside acquisition bids, following interventions from the US government.
The company has been dogged for years by allegations that it has ties to China's ruling Communist Party. Huawei's chairman Ren Zhengfei, an erstwhile member of the People's Liberation Army, has been accused of helping Chinese authorities to spy on the Western world.
Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses such a security threat, however.
Now, according to Reuters, the firm plans to spend big on an ad campaign to win business in America's mobile and wearables markets. It will also apparently splash the cash on sports team sponsorships.
Such a marketing blitz will doubtless run to millions of dollars being splurged to try to improve the Huawei brand in the US. However, the company didn't reveal how much money it was spending on the effort to recast itself as consumer-friendly.
The Huawei brand is little-known in the US and it's unclear how many carriers in the country would be willing to do business with the Chinese firm.
It has been a long-term strategy of Huawei's to penetrate the US market, where it has a tiny share of sales - but the latest push does not seem to include its Enterprise arm, which sells networking gear. ®