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Tag Archives: Motorola
Motorola in China latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese High Tech Market, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)
Bottom line: LeTV’s strong smartphone launch shows that stiff competition in China won’t ease soon, which could push Lenovo’s mobile operations further into the red and prompt ZTE to further lighten its efforts in the market.
LeTV smartphones make strong debut
A series of smartphone items are in the headlines as we close out the week, spotlighting the tough situation in a China market that is at once the world’s largest but also extremely competitive. That competition just got a bit louder, with the first headline that says new arrival LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) debuted quite strongly with when its first smartphone models went on sale this week. Meantime, industry stalwarts Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) continue to reflect the stresses of selling in China, with the former posting a big loss for its mobile business last year while the latter continues to lighten its reliance on the market by looking for growth in the US. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Lenovo has done remarkably well since defying skeptics with its landmark IBM PC buy a decade ago, and could stand a 50-50 chance of remaining relevant a decade from now in the fast-changing world of high-tech gadgets.
Lenovo celebrates a decade since landmark IBM buy
Global PC leader Lenovo (HKEx: 992) is commending itself on how far it has come since its landmark purchase of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) PC business 10 years ago, setting it on a path that has made it the world’s top computer seller. (company announcement) I’ll admit I was a skeptic at the time of the IBM deal in 2005, and have become much more bullish on Lenovo since then. Still, the company hasn’t completely convinced me that it has the necessary skill and vision to move past its global PC crown, which is fast becoming yesterday’s news as traditional computers rapidly lose ground to newer devices like smartphones and tablets.
Before I look at the challenges that Lenovo is facing, I want to start by personally congratulating the company on its huge accomplishments over the last decade since it announced it would purchase IBM’s storied PC business for $1.25 billion. I and many others predicted at the time that Lenovo could stumble badly with the move, since it had no experience at running such a major foreign business that was clearly in decline and need of restructuring. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China is likely to become Apple’s largest smartphone market by next year, while Huawei’s smartphones could make significant gains in the next 2 years en route to becoming one of the world’s top 2 brands.
iPhone posts China milestone
Three of the world’s top cellphone makers are in China-related headlines today, led by word that Chinese iPhone sales officially passed the US for the first time in Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) latest reporting quarter. At the same time, 2 of China’s own homegrown cellphone makers with big aspirations are also in the headlines, with both Huawei and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) discussing their goals for the next few years.
One of those has Huawei’s smartphone chief saying he’s aiming to become the world’s largest brand within the next 3-5 years. The other has Lenovo’s chief executive saying he’s aiming to sell 100 million cellphones in the company’s latest fiscal year, as it consolidates its position after a period of rapid expansion. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Legend Group Files For Hong Kong IPO, 2014 Profit Reaches 4.1 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
Alibaba Injects $2.5 Bln Online Pharmacy Business Into Alibaba Health (HKEx: 241) (English article)
Bottom line: Lenovo could make significant inroads into western smartphone markets with its newly acquired Motorola if it lets the brand remain independent and maintain its own product development and sales resources.
Lenovo struts phones at trade show
A tour of the Lenovo (HKEx: 9992) booth at a major trade show happening this week in Spain made me realize just how much the company is betting on its recently purchased Motorola brand to boost it into the smartphone big leagues. Motorola’s continuing attraction as a powerful brand was on full display at the Lenovo booth, with large crowds clamoring for a look at what seemed like quite a ho-hum new low-end model being rolled out at the show.
By comparison, a glitzy new Lenovo-brand model from its higher-end VIBE line was drawing far less attention, even as a Brit on the stage sang on with nonstop praises for the unique features of the new model that has many attributes of a high-end camera. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The absence of Xiaomi and other newer Chinese smartphone makers from the world’s leading telecoms show reflects their focus on emerging markets and limited promotional budgets due to stiff competition at home.
Xiaomi missing at world’s top telecoms show
I’m in Barcelona this week for what has become the world’s biggest annual telecoms show, and thought I’d kick off my coverage with a look at who is attending from China this year. The list contains most of the big names you’d expect, including Huawei, ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Lenovo (HKEx: 992), though Lenovo has decided to keep its name off the “made in China” list and is opting to call itself a US company.
But equally noteworthy is who isn’t on the list, at least not as an exhibitor. That list of absentees includes all of China’s newer smartphone makers, led by the fast-rising Xiaomi that has come from nowhere over the last 3 years to become the world’s third biggest brand. Others that aren’t on the list include locally well-known Chinese names Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) and Meizu, which have recently formed tie-ups with major Internet companies Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA, respectively. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Motorola’s China homecoming looks well-designed conceptually, but will have trouble due to stiff competition and is unlikely to become a major player in the next 2-3 years.
Moto returns to China
I’ve written quite a bit already about Lenovo’s (HKEx: 992) big plans for its recently acquired Motorola brand, which has just made its formal return to China with the local launch of the Moto X smartphone. But what’s surprised me a bit is the magnitude of the campaign that Lenovo has given to this homecoming, which hints at the big hopes it has for the brand whose name whose cutting-edge phones were once the ultimate in “cool” and “trendy”.
It’s been a number of years now since that image was relevant, and many younger Chinese might not even remember the Motorola name at all. But Lenovo is clearly hoping that this homecoming and all the accompanying fanfare will reawaken some of those former impressions among China’s older consumers, in a certain form of “retro-cool” to counter the more recent rise of names like Xiaomi and Coolpad (HKEx: 2369). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Just 58.7 Pct Of Products Genuine In Random Government E-commerce Audit (Chinese article)
WeChat Unveils First Big Advertisers For Moments Function, Includes BMW, Vivo (Chinese article)
Actress Zhao Wei Invests HK$5.1 Bln In Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Film Unit (Chinese article)
Wanda Invests $1 Bln In Sydney Land Development Project (Chinese article)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Brings Motorola Back to China as Moto X Phone Released (English article)
Bottom line: Lenovo’s branding relaunch set for April could see it retire some of its local brands obtained through recent acquisitions, helping to improve its sales through better consumer awareness.
Lenovo prepares for brand overhaul
PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992) is hinting at a major overhaul for its crowded stable of brands later this year, in a move to simplify the many names it has acquired in a buying spree over the last decade. This kind of move is long overdue for Lenovo, which launched its global buying binge a decade ago with a landmark deal to buy the PC business of IBM (NYSE: IBM). To this day Lenovo still counts the Think name it got from IBM as one of its leading PC brands, though it has also added a number of other major names over the last 10 years. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: TCL and Lenovo will face uphill battles in rebuilding the Palm and Motorola brands due to stiff competition and lack of experience building upscale brands.
TCL to resuscitate Palm
It’s no secret that PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) has big plans for its recently acquired Motorola smartphone brand, and now we’re learning that cellphone stalwart TCL (HKEx: 2618; Shenzhen: 000100) has similar plans for the former superstar Palm brand. That’s the latest word coming from Las Vegas, where Lenovo, TCL and other Chinese gadget makers are showing off their latest wares at CES, the world’s biggest consumer electronics show that happens this time each year. While TCL was low-profile about its newly acquired Palm brand, Lenovo was much louder about its plans to relaunch Motorola smartphones in its home market next month. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Huawei’s low-cost Honor brand is likely to gain global market share in 2015 at the expense of multinationals like Samsung, which is likely to lose its spot as China’s top smartphone seller in the new year.
Sales soar at Huawei’s Honor brand
Two of China’s leading smartphone sellers are in the headlines today moving in opposite directions, reflecting turbulent conditions in the world’s largest but also most competitive market. On the upside, media are reporting that sales are booming for domestic giant Huawei’s low-end Honor brand, as the company borrows a low-cost marketing strategy from domestic rival Xiaomi. Meantime, other reports say market leader and Korean giant Samsung (Seoul: 005930) is sending an emergency team of rescuers to China in a bid to reverse the company’s sudden slide in the market. Read Full Post…
