Huawei, currently the world's third largest
smartphone manufacturer, is planning on developing its own voice assistant to
compete with Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Alphabet's Google Assistant,
reports Bloomberg.
The company is said to have more than a hundred
engineers that are in the early stages of developing the AI assistant. Sources
that spoke to Bloomberg say Huawei plans to implement Chinese language support
and target domestic users while Huawei smartphones continue to work with Google
Assistant and Amazon Alexa outside of China.
Huawei has been stepping up its efforts to compete
with Apple, Samsung, and other major smartphone players in recent months. After
dethroning Xiaomi to become the world's third largest smartphone maker, Huawei
has now set its sights on Apple, and its own voice assistant could help set it
apart.
According to Huawei consumer head Richard Yu, the
company wants to become the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world by
2021. To do that, Huawei will need to break into the U.S. market, something
that it hasn't yet managed to do.
Huawei does not currently have carrier agreements
with the four major carriers in the United States, making it difficult for
customers to acquire Huawei smartphones, but Huawei executives are aiming to
change that in the future.
To better compete with Apple, Huawei recently
launched an ad campaign that uses Justin Long, well known for his role in
Apple's popular "Get a Mac" campaign. Long is currently promoting
Huawei's most recent device, the Mate 9.
Via: Bloomberg
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