The telecom race: Huawei signs tablet deal with Inovi Technologies

Chinese giant has witnessed rapid growth in recent months.

KARACHI:

In order to expand its financial holding in the country, Huawei Pakistan has signed up an exclusive deal with Inovi Technologies for the tablet business, the former revealed during the opening ceremony of its latest tablets on Wednesday.

A sister concern of Advance Telecom and a renowned name in the mobile phone distribution business, Inovi Technologies is the third distributor hired by Huawei – Airlink and Muller and Phips are already managing the company’s smartphone distribution in the country.

The Chinese technology giant that has long dominated Pakistan’s telecom market as the leading hardware provider entered the country’s mobile phone market in July 2012. The company emerged as the third biggest smartphone vendor after its flagship smartphone P6 earned the company a place among the top three global smartphone makers in 2013, officials said.

In Pakistan, the company has witnessed rapid growth especially in recent months. The advertisements have been given high priority as the company looks to expand.

“We have signed up Inovi exclusively for our tablets distribution because of a growing demand,” Huawei Director Marketing Faraz Khan told The Express Tribune.

“In Pakistan, there has been a rapid growth in our smartphone business during the last three months,” said Khan. “We are a major smartphone selling brand in Pakistan, currently selling 32,000 units a month.”

Responding to a question about the target market, Khan says they are focusing on the range from $100 to $400. “We have already tapped the $300 segment but in the last quarter of 2014, we will introduce low-end products and target that segment as well.”

Earlier, the company unveiled a series of its media pads [tablets] in Pakistan for which it has partnered with Inovi Technologies.

“We first signed up Airlink and Muller and Phipps for our mobile phone segment. These distributors gave a big boost to our business in Pakistan and Huawei emerged as a strong player in the country,” said the company’s national sales manager Muzammil Athar while briefing the media about the specifications of the newly-launched tablets and Huawei’s history in Pakistan, both as a hardware provider and a smartphone maker.

The Media Pad series includes Link 10+, which has a 10-inch display and Quad-core 1.6 GHz processor, according to the press release. Among other tablets was the Media Pad M1 8.0, having 8-inch display and Quad-core 1.6 GHz processor. The Media Pad X1 7.0, that has 13 mega-pixels rear and a 5 mega-pixels front camera, was also launched in the ceremony – the 7-inch tablet has a Quad-core 1.6 GHz processor with 2GB RAM.

All editions of the Media Pad tablet series are available in Wi-Fi and 3G-enabled functions, said the media handout.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2014.

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