The launch of these smartphones comes in the wake of the success of the company’s previous launches of mobile phones worldwide. All these phones are run by Qualcomm processors.
Anand Narang, Marketing Director, Huawei Devices, said: “Backed by the success of IDEOS and on the basis of our understanding of Generation Y in India, we see an increasing shift in the demand for smart-phones in India.”
“It is an opportune time for us to launch our new and exciting range of IDEOS smartphones whether its the X5, X2 or the Chat. We will continue to bring the latest, smartest and most technologically advanced handsets for our consumers at accessible prices,” added Mr.Narang.
IDEOS Chat costs Rs.8,199, IDEOS X2 costs Rs.8,999 and IDEOS X5 costs Rs.14,999.
According to a press release, IDEOS Chat has a touch screen as well as QWERTY keypad, while IDEOS X2 is a sleek touch screen mobile targeted at the youth and IDEOS X5 is a smartphone for the young professional.
IDEOS X2 sports a 3.2″ HVGA capacitive touch screen, an optical keypad, and a 1150 mAh battery backed up by special features to save power. The phone is driven by Android 2.2. It features WiFi 11n and supports download speeds up to 7.2 Mbps. It also comes with long-lasting 1150 mAh battery supported by battery-conserving “Proximity sensor” and eyes-friendly “Ambient Light sensor.” The phone supports social media applications like Facebook and Twitter apart from supporting a host of applications like Google Mobile Suite.
The IDEOS X5 has a 3.8″ WVGA full touch screen, a 5-MP flash camera, 720p HD video recording/playback. It features Qualcomm 800 MHz processor and runs on Android 2.2. The phone features “SWYPE” which allows users to type as fast as they would on a PC. The IDEOS X5 has the functionality of a WiFi hotspot and can support eight internet connections.
According to P. Sanjeev, Director (Sales) Huawei Devices, the smartphones would be available in ten cities through Redington and Ingram Micro.
Mr.Sanjiv said: “We are focusing on the reach of the product rather than the numbers. In the initial phase our smartphones will be available for sale across 10 cities through our partners Redington and Ingram Micro.”
The company has also announced that a smartphone toll-free service has been established to handle queries from users of the smartphones.
Mr.Narang further announced that the company would launch tablet PCs by July-September 2011 and that the tablets would be competitively priced.
The company has announced investment plans of $2 billion in India in the next five years. While the company plans to go in for local components, it plans to increase its research and development too in India. The company has announced that product development center aimed at developing and testing mobile phones and software for the phones is being set up in Bangalore.
Mr.Sanjiv said: “The new center would take up entire design, feature, battery services, application, software content of the product. We have four product centers globally and one among them is the India product center.”
Huawei which aims to capture 5-7 per cent of the mobile phone market by 2013 and 15% share by 2015 plans to launch eight to ten mobile phones in the ‘above Rs.5000’ category this year.
