“Our strategy is to survive”

Huawei has been in a bad spot since the US imposed a ban in 2019 that prevented it from accessing Google services. During the launch of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, we come back to the upcoming challenges with William Thien, brand manager for Western Europe: the difficulties of the app gallery and its diversity or team.

During IFA 2022, we met the chairman Huawei For Western Europe, William Tian. The brand faced difficulties, especially in its branch Smartphones, following the 2019 US ban, we wanted to discuss various topics with him. App Gallery functionality and group difficulties are in the program.

App gallery problem

Even today, it is difficult to install all the apps you want on smartphones Tablets of the brand (we tested it Huawei MatePad Pro 2022) for those who don’t follow it closely, Huawei continues to sell Android phones but has lost the Play Store. Instead, the brand integrates an internal app store called the App Gallery, where many still struggle to get it to work properly.

Most of the times it is a situation that makes us unable to recommend their products. Huawei, William Tian tells us, isn’t happy with its app gallery:

“We built our app gallery very quickly. Most apps are available and we have worked very hard with our content providers, including France. We have implemented Petal Search to provide more choices, some apps are missing from App Gallery. » Let’s be clear, this is not the case. Even today our readers are still missing too many apps to recommend a Huawei smartphone.

We asked William Thien if he’d like to improve the App Gallery further, and if he’s happy that its users have to go to the browser to find their apps. His answer is more pirouette than anything else:

The French are known to love freedom. Searching for magazines gives you more freedom (laughs).

We can laugh about it, but what this announcement betrays above all is that the team does not want to seriously improve the experience on smartphones, limiting itself to announcing it. “We work with content providers and bring their apps to the App Gallery. » In short, “We’re working on it.”.

Come two or three years later

Many Huawei executives have called 2021 a flexible year. In 2022, we pass another milestone in Huawei’s troubles. William Tian for 2022, “ Our strategy is to survive and prepare for the future “. He adds: “2022 is a very difficult year for everyone, including Huawei. We are facing many challenges due to declining consumption, high inflation and rising prices. »

Asked about the reasons for Huawei’s revenue decline, William Tian clarifies the reason behind this loss of form: “All the decline was caused by the smartphone business. From 2019, we started accelerating the diversification of our portfolio, we have tablets, wearables, PCs, monitors… all these activities are growing very fast. During our meeting, unfortunately unable to specify the amount, the manager said that several investments were made, especially in the direction of connected health, by creating a giant research center dedicated to this universe.

In this diversification strategy, we can say that smartphones no longer have their place and Huawei is keen on continuing to exit the model. From Huawei’s point of view, it must be understood that even if these devices don’t sell, they continue to have value. Some Huawei officials, who wish to remain anonymous, said the launch of the Mate 50 Pro was the main objective “Keep in touch with the brand’s many fans”In France. In short, don’t fall into oblivion. These same executives agree that this is the company’s goal“Back to smartphones in two or three years”About. If anyone doubts, let’s just say she’s no longer in that category.

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