Smartphone Ascend P1 unveiled by Huawei Technologies

KUALA LUMPUR: With smartphones becoming an indispensable tool for staying connected on the social media networks, China-based Huawei Technologies has launched an affordable yet feature-rich model.

Many queued up as early as 6.30am to get their hands on the Ascend P1 at the introductory price of RM999 during its launch in KL Hilton yesterday.

Ong Boon Lin, 35, who was first in line, said he bought the phone for his wife as the larger screen would make it better for “reading news and books”.

“The Ascend P1 is a fast smartphone with a camera for capturing and sharing contents while on the move,” said Huawei country director for consumer business group Wong Wey Hwa.

A model with the Ascend P1 smartphone at the launch.

The phone has a large 4.3-inch screen, making it easy to browse the web, view images and watch high-definition videos. It also comes with 4GB of storage to store content, applications and games.

“Huawei has been working behind the scenes for many years by supplying infrastructure for network service providers,” said Wong. “We are now trying to grow our brand using online and social media with the Ascend P1.”

The smartphone, which is available currently in the Klang Valley, is expected to hit shelves nationwide in the coming weeks. The introductory price is valid until Malaysia Day.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Huawei country director for consumer business group Wong Wey Hwa as saying that the company was aiming for double-digit sales growth in the Malaysian market.

“Last year, we did US$40mil sales in Malaysia for all our products,” he said, adding that the smartphone was expected to contribute 20% to 30% of the targeted double-digit sales growth.

Wong also announced the expansion of Huawei's device business under a new distribution partnership with ECS ICT Bhd via its wholly-owned subsidiary, ECS Astar Sdn Bhd, which would open up access to over 3,000 resellers nationwide.

“Through our formal partnership with ECS in Malaysia, we are able to expand our product reach and offer more accessibility of our devices to everyone looking for value-added mobile connectivity,” he said.

Wong said Ascend P1 would be available at participating ECS retailers in the Klang Valley and in other places in the next few weeks.

For a review of the Ascend P1, check out TechCentral.my.

By CHONG JINN XIUNG starbiz@thestar.com.my  

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