Huawei has been operating on the local market since 2004, but until last year it supplied only OEM phones to operators such as Orange Stockholm, Vodafone Smart or those used in the Digi network of RCS&RDS.
“We have been doubling market share worldwide year after year. We have 5% of the local market, but will reach 6% by the end of the year, once we have launched the new models and aim for a top three spot by 2015,” said Sorina Macarescu, marketing manager. Huawei is currently selling ten branded handsets, all of which are 2G enabled.
The cell phone market dropped by about 20% last year, according to its players, and this year’s forecast points to stagnation. About 3.3 to 3.5 million phones were sold in Romania last year, more than 50% of which were inexpensive handsets priced at less than EUR50. The total volume of smartphone sales last year is put at 400,000 units, and will go up to 600,000 this year.
A Huawei Vision smartphone will cost EUR300 to EUR350 on the local market. It will directly compete with Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire S.
The Chinese company will launch at least three new smartphones and a 7″ tablet by the end of the year; plans include an entire range of over ten new models with or without an operating system installed and wireless routers for home use. Top competitors on the smartphone market in Romania are Samsung, HTC, Apple and Nokia.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)