Chinese company hoping to capitalize on stirring technology revolution

Returning from vacation in China to celebrate the new year, Zhang Jiangbo must have felt like a Santa Claus in Tanzania. His tote was loaded with gifts, most importantly five Huawei mobile phones for his staff of young employees in Dar es Salaam where he is the manager for a Chinese mining company's branch office.

"In Africa, young people aspire to follow technology trends. With relatively lower prices, Huawei's smartphones are very popular here. When my local employees know that the mobile's price in China is even lower than it is in Africa, they ask me to bring more back if I travel to the mainland," Zhang says.

The craze for the latest in technology is not exclusive to Tanzania. A recent report by the United Nations suggests that in Africa there are 63 mobile phone subscriptions for every 100 Africans. More Africans in fact have had access to mobile phones than to clean drinking water since 2011, according to Nielsen, a global information firm.

Huawei Technologies in South Africa, especially its device business group, is hoping to capitalize on the technological revolution stirring in the continent, as evidenced by numerous advertisements running the slogan "Make It Possible" in the eastern and southern African regions.

In February, Huawei launched a Windows phone called the 4Afrika in conjunction with Microsoft. It is the first in a series of devices being manufactured for the continent.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Microsoft to ensure that more people have access to leading technology, communications and information services," says Huang Lijun, general manager of Huawei's device business group in South Africa.

The latest Windows phone includes five localized applications for each African country that detail each country's local news, sports and networking trends. Approximately 200,000 applications for Windows phones are also available to African subscribers. Huang says that the launching of a smartphone in Africa creates jobs on the continent for both Huawei and Microsoft, especially in research and marketing. He adds that the smartphone and tablet PC have great potential in the African market because Africans are eager to have access to the Internet while they don't have enough income to afford multiple devices.

"We want to make the market possible for us, meanwhile we also hope the new phone will make the technology possible for more African people," he says.

Though Huawei is the world's second-largest telecom equipment maker and millions of Africans have been using Huawei's products for years, company officials claim the brand is largely new to the continent.

When Huawei Device came to the South African market five years ago, the company was the only original design manufacturer for local operators. Huawei's data cards, used to receive telecom services on laptops, instantly captured 100 percent of the market.

"At that moment, only about three people were working in Johannesburg for Huawei, but the simple data cards can bring in up to $15 million for our business. Because local companies didn't have many options, we can just sit in the office and the telecom operators will call us for more orders," Huang says.

Between 2008 and 2009, when many telecom operators began building their 3G networks in South Africa, they needed a way for their customers to receive data instantly. The first generation of PC card slots made by Huawei sold more than 100 million units in the country within two years.

But similar device producers began arriving in South Africa in late 2009, creating intense competition wth Huawei. In 2010, Huawei Device decided to serve customers directly and Huang and his team were in charge of Huawei's venture. Huang built a team with 30 experienced professionals such as Liza de Wet, who used to be an account manager for LG in South Africa.

"Our marketing team visit as many operator stores as possible, put Huawei's products in the stores, and also check their inventory. We also bring in our new products and promotion information to our partners," says de Wet, marketing director of Huawei Device's divisions in southern and eastern Africa.

Last year, the marketing team made the company's first TV commercial in South Africa and gained more than 14,000 Facebook fans. Thus far, the Huawei brand reportedly occupies 70 percent of space within local operator stores, of which there are more than 1,000.

"Compared with LG or other mobile devices makers, Huawei provides multiple services in the industry, from building networks, to providing network solutions and even to providing terminal devices. Not many of our competitors are able to do all of those services, which makes our brand more unique," she says.

She says the quality of Huawei's smartphones has improved in the past two and half years. In 2012, Huawei was one of the top three vendors in South African's tablet PC market. Brand awareness of Huawei's smartphones has jumped from 7 percent to 28 percent over the year.

"I have been working for Huawei for six years and the last three years was the toughest time for me, but we saw a huge change in the market performance. Brand building is not a thing done overnight and it's very challenging," Huang says.

Huang expects to open Huawei stores in South Africa with more localized products that use Huawei's own computer chips.

"We hope to make our smartphones and tablet PCs more accessible for African customers," Huang says.