Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has turned to a former Nokia and Lenovo executive to steer andmaintain its edge in the highly competitive smartphone market.
Colin Giles, former president of Nokia China and sales director of Lenovo Group Ltd, has beenappointed head of global sales and entrusted with the responsibility of growing the company'sdevice sales in overseas markets, said Richard Yu, chief executive of the consumer businessgroup at Huawei.
The Chinese company is currently ranked third in the world in terms of smartphone shipments,behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc, according to research firm International DataCorp.
The Shenzhen-based company has the fastest-growth rate among the top five firms and shipped26.5 million units globally during the third quarter, a 60.9 percent year-on-year surge, IDC said.Huawei accounted for 7.5 percent of the global smartphone market during the same period.
James Yan, a smartphone researcher at IDC, said Giles' strong sales experience and decade-long relationship with overseas channel partners will help Huawei expand its presence outside ofChina.
"Huawei has grown to be a major player in the handset market over the past few years," Yansaid. He said the company needs a stronger international sales team to sell its products,especially when it is targeting the premium market dominated by Apple and Samsung.
Giles spent most of his sales and marketing career in Asia. He started to focus on China saleswhile heading Nokia's East Asia handset sales in the early 2000s.
He briefly joined Huawei's marketing team in mid-2013 before joining Lenovo as vice-presidentresponsible for sales of Lenovo-branded devices in emerging markets and Motorolasmartphones in developed countries such as the United States.
Giles ended an unsuccessful 15-month career in Lenovo in July days after Lenovo CEO YangYuanqing sacked Liu Jun, the head of the mobility unit, for poor smartphone sales. Giles was notimmediately available for comments on his new job.
Huawei is taking aggressive steps in overseas expansion after industry consultancy Canalysgave the company the top slot in China sales, ahead of affordable device maker Xiaomi Corp.
Nicole Peng, director of Canalys China, said Huawei is shifting its focus to overseas sales afterclaiming the top position on its home turf amid a demand slowdown.
