Huawei wants to have their cake and eat it, too. The company, who recently pulled out of the US market, is promising to support Windows Phone. In doing so, they’re also hedging their bets by promising we’ll see a dual-booting device, which will bring Windows and Android on the same device.
Speaking to Trusted Reviews, Huawei’s Chief Marketing Officer Shao Yang said “We think the dual OS can be a new choice for the consumer. It will be on sale in the US in Q2”. His reasoning is sound, noting that Windows Phone alone is often not compelling enough reason to choose a device. “If it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone. If they have the Android and Windows together, you can change it as you wish and it is much easier for people to choose Windows Phone” Yang said.
It’s an interesting strategy for the company which pulled out of the US market to avoid being a political scapegoat. At the time they vowed to remove themselves from the largest mobile market, they claimed they were misunderstood, victims of anti-Chinese propaganda related to spying. Though they’re clear on their intentions, it’s hard to say we’ve come to understand Huawei any more than we did or didn’t before.
Further complicating matters are statements regarding Android. “Compared with Android, the priority of Windows Phone is much lower but is still one of our choices of OS. We are definitely using a multi OS strategy” Yang said, effectively saying they’re using the stronger Android platform to sell Windows Phone. Yang also vowed Huwei would keep an eye on emerging operating systems like Tizen, ut notes it’s still early days for that kind of talk. We just wonder if Huawei will use Android to sell that, too.
