Huawei: We want to work with Nokia, not fight for consumers

Huawei wants to work with Microsoft and Nokia to "build love" for Windows Phone rather than battle against the manufacturer in a market that leaves little room for competitors to work alongside one another, according to a report over at Pocket-lint. Mind you, this is after we covered Huawei looking to purchase Nokia. Anything's possible, right?

Things are believed to be going well for Huawei, who says its enjoying success with over 1 million Ascend W1 units sold in Europe and the US. Huawei's Kevin Ho spoke with Pocket-lint to reveal that the company would rather work with, not fight Nokia for consumers. The end goal is to "build a better Windows Phone platform." We can't argue with that.

Ho does admit that Windows Phone is still a very difficult sell over the iPhone and Android hardware, noting how it's harder to ship devices running Microsoft's OS when such popular competitors are already well-established. Ho states that Huawei is expecting to sell over 10 million Ascend P6 units, which is just a slight increase on top of the Ascend W1 numbers.

"Compared to Android, Windows Phone is difficult to sell. Most people like Android, they are familiar with Android, but they need time to accept Windows Phone and make it familiar."

We've been here before with Acer and other manufacturers stating the same thing - Windows Phone is hard to sell. But then we have Nokia who has thrown all the eggs into one basket and appears to be holding out, pulling in stronger network operator support and building brand awareness. One has to think to oneself if it's simply due to OEMs not really putting enough effort into marketing their Windows Phones?

Whatever may be the reason or cause for concern, Windows Phone still has a long way to go to not only win the hearts of consumers, but manufacturers too. We only have to look at Samsung to see a lonely boy who can't help but dip his foot into the Microsoft mobile pond. Huawei is set to launch the Ascend W2, an upcoming budget Windows Phone.

Source: Pocket-lint; Thanks, Stuart, for the tip!

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.