Image: Huawei
While the new Huawei Mate 9 gets released in the United States with an Amazon Alexa voice assistant, Chinese customers will be getting something closer to home – a voice assistant specifically tailored for the Chinese market.
The Verge reports that this Chinese voice assistant will be introduced to support an ecosystem of apps, games and other services already being built in the home market.
Richard Yu, Huawei mobile chief, expressed a rather pragmatic point, “Today, Amazon and Google are stronger than us; Alexa and Google Assistant are better. How can we compete?”
Instead of taking the big boys head on, the move to focus on a voice assistant strictly for the Chinese market would avoid a confrontation in an arena where Huawei’s strengths will not be maximized.
Huawei is only starting to gain a solid footing in the U.S. market and taking the cautious route could pay off in the long run. Focusing on its home market for voice assistant development could also give the company a good place to streamline their product before introducing it to the more competitive international marketplace. Alfred Bayle/JB