CES: ZTE Eyes Projectors, Lenovo Goes Modular, Huawei Gets Big
It’s the time of year when we get to see where gadget makers are placing their future bets, as they strut their newest wares at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s biggest show of its kind. This year all of China’s “big 3” smartphone aspirants are at the show in Las Vegas, with Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) each focusing on different areas for future development. Interestingly, I couldn’t find any official mention of attendance at the event by fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi, even as it gets ready to embark on a global expansion in 2014.
All of the big Chinese names suffer from a lack of pizazz for their products, which have a reputation for reliability but are otherwise very utilitarian and lack differentiation. Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo have all made big progress in their home China market, where price is paramount and functionality and reputation are less important. But the trio have been less successful in the smartphone space overseas, where image, functionality and other factors are more important. Against that backdrop, each company is emphasizing different factors in their latest product announcements at CES in their bids to differentiate themselves from one another.
Let’s start with ZTE, whose focus was on non-traditional functions with its roll-out of an ultra-light, ultra-portable projector device at CES. (company announcement) This particular device looks quite interesting, at least conceptually, weighing just a pound and not much bigger than a large smartphone. It has touchscreen technology and uses Android, and can also function as a mobile hotspot. I personally like this particular approach and emphasis, as it reflects ZTE’s acknowledgement that it may have to raise its profile in more niche areas like mobile projectors before competing in the more mainstream smartphone space with big names like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930).
While ZTE is placing its bets at the periphery of the wireless gadget universe, crosstown rival Huawei is landing squarely at the center with its roll-out of a massive smartphone that falls between more mainstream models and tablet PCs. (Chinese article) The new model, called the Ascend Mate2, is one of the world’s largest smartphones with a 6.1 inch screen, in the same class as Samsung’s Galaxy Note models.
I personally think these mega smartphones, sometimes called phablets, are in a strange niche that won’t find a huge audience because they are too big to fit easily in a pocket and too small to compete with mainstream tablet PCs. Accordingly, I wouldn’t bet big money on Huawei, at least not based on this product it’s hyping at CES.
Last but not least there’s Lenovo, which was trumpeting several new smartphone and PC models with a focus on lightness and flexibility. The product that most caught my attention was a model called the MIIX 2, a modular model that consists of 2 main pieces that allow it to function as a laptop computer or tablet PC. This concept is a good one and isn’t really new, though I haven’t heard of any models that perform it well. That said, I doubt that Lenovo will become the first to break that barrier, and would expect this latest model to get lukewarm reception.
Then there’s Xiaomi, which was notable for its lack of presence at CES, even as it reportedly gets set to embark on a major global expansion this year. There was no mention of CES on the microblog account of Xiaomi’s talkative co-founder and supreme marketer Lei Jun. Xiaomi’s name was also absent from the CES homepage’s exhibitor directory. The only mention of I could find were a couple of blogs saying the company’s latest smartphone, the MI2, was spotted at the show.
I suspect some of Xiaomi’s representatives were at the show quietly engaged in meetings with potential distributors. If they were there, they were more likely showing off the upcoming MI3, the company’s third-generation smartphone, which is already available for pre-orders on Xiaomi’s website. Whatever the case, I do find it a bit surprising that such a marketing-savvy company missed such a good chance to hype its products. But then again, perhaps Lei Jun is saving his big announcement for later after his company signs one or more global distribution plans.
Bottom line: ZTE’s focus on mobile projectors at CES looks like a good strategy to focus on a niche area, while Huawei’s super-sized smartphone and Lenovo’s modular PC look less likely to gain traction.
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