Huawei AR Glasses

I think we have a good shot in being in all of them.

The leaks... they come from the developers, and they, like Apple, have developers building AR applications without the glasses... yet... expect it to explode on the scene.

And they seem to be tight with Foxconn

And Foxconn seems to be everywhere

CNBC

• Huawei is planning to launch its own augmented reality (AR) glasses, Richard Yu, CEO of the company's consumer group, told CNBC.
• Yu said the product would not be ready to be commercialized for at least "one to two years."
• Other technology giants like Facebook and Apple are reportedly working on similar products.

The Chinese technology giant already has augmented reality apps on its latest Mate 20 Pro smartphone.

But Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, told CNBC in an exclusive interview that AR glasses are in the works which could take the experience to the next level. These would be wearable spectacles that allow people to experience AR.

Smartphone Sales leaders

We know that Sony has been shifting gears with their corporate strategy, trying to focus on devices, and components over their own consumer electronics products - so some of this isn't a surprise.

What is interesting overall is that this is a quite fluid list. Yes, there are some big players here who have remained big players -- Samsung, Apple and LG; but some drop off the list, and some have risen very quickly (Xaiomi & Micromax)

Don't think for a second that Sony couldn't pop back onto this list in a big way with the right innovations (they have the manufacturing capability -- and a lock on a certain component that could make them immensely more popular.)

With the big players desperate for innovation -- and some small players providing it. I think the landscape is very interesting and still very favorable for Microvision.

TechPP  - more at the source.


There’s no denying that Chinese OEMs are rocking the smartphone industry since the last few years with the IC Insights report for 2015 stating that 7 among the top 12 smartphone OEMs were based in China. This year’s report by the American analytical firm however cites some more interesting news. As per the report, some established market players including the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Coolpad have been kicked out of the Top 12 Smartphone OEMs list by a few emerging brands like Meizu and Micromax thanks to their breathtaking growth during the first quarter of 2016.

Sony, the Japanese giant has been struggling with its smartphone strategy, both in high end and low end markets. Recently, the company has tried to get rid of the Xperia Z series for Xperia X, but that doesn’t seem to have made any significant impact. Microsoft on the other hand, has almost given up on the Windows 10 Mobile, with hardly any new Lumia phones released since 950 and 950 XL. What was once considered to be a viable alternative for iOS and Android, is slowly but surely getting relegated to insignificance.

Micromax, the Indian smartphone maker has in fact jumped up to the 12th spot after having secured sale of 5 million smartphones in the last quarter, thereby making their first entry into the list. Sony, Microsoft and Coolpad on the other hand saw their figures of 3.4, 2.3 and 4 million respectively. The analytical firm expect Micromax to record a year on year growth of 74% leveraging on its head start in the first quarter of 2016. Thus it can be assumed that the homegrown smartphone brand isn’t quite facing a slowdown in the sales thanks to its Chinese counterparts, and going by the report, it seems to be dominating the retail smartphone market in the India.




Samsung however is still leading the pack with a sales figure of 81.7 million smartphones (Q1 2016) and is closely followed by Apple. IC Insights however expects them to incur a fall in their smartphone shipments by 1% and 3% respectively by the end of this year. Samsung’s Korean counterpart LG however has fallen down a rank and is now placed at 7th spot just below the high flying Vivo. Apart from that, most other Chinese smartphone makers have successfully held on to their places with Huawei and Oppo securing the 3rd and the 4th spots respectively.

Incidentally, Xiaomi which was one of the high flying Chinese smartphone brands during 2013 and 2014 has failed to make an impact this year and is still stuck at the 5th spot. With the likes of OnePlus 3, ZUK Z2 Pro competing with the Xiaomi Mi5 with their stellar price to performance ratio, Xiaomi needs more than just the Redmi Note 3 to turn tables.

Sharp and Foxconn to Sign Deal Next Week

So, multiple sources who know what's going on, I'll believe this report.

I find the language interesting: "adopting next generation displays."  I've read enough of these reports to know that it's assumed by many that the "next generation display" is assumed to be OLED, not confirmed to be. OLED is also a place where there is significant competition and many other take-over targets.

The degree to which Foxconn produces top quality products for a number of major OEMS, including Samsung, Sony, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Amazon, Google, Huawei and Xaiomi -- means that this deal could be an enormous leap forward for MicroVision.

OLED Producers


Reuters

Sharp Corp (6753.T) and Taiwan's Foxconn are set to sign a takeover deal next week after repeated delays, with the two sides set to agree on a smaller bailout than originally planned for the troubled Japanese electronics maker, two sources familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

The two companies will hold board meetings on Wednesday to approve the deal and officially sign a deal the following day, said the two sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

The deal would be the largest acquisition by a foreign company in Japan's insular technology sector. In choosing to negotiate with Foxconn, Sharp turned down a rival offer by a state-backed fund.

It would also boost Foxconn's position as Apple's main contract manufacturer and provide Sharp with funds to start mass-producing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens by 2018, around the time Apple is expected to adopt the next-generation displays for its iPhones.

Apple Insider

Next Week: MicroVisions Engine Licensees - Sony and Foxconn

Barring something significant, this deal is done. 

MicroVision has two Engine partners: SONY and FOXCONN. Both occupy primary positions in Apple's supply chain.

I see this as a major advance for the company. Are things better this quarter than last? Absolutely.

Times of India

TOKYO: Sharp's two main banks are set to lower interest rates on billions of dollars in loans and offer other financial support as part of a planned takeover by Taiwan's Foxconn, a source with direct knowledge of the plan said.

The move is partly a response to a last-minute hitch to the signing of the deal over potential liabilities at the ailing Japanese display maker, although some of the discussions have been going on for a while, the source said.

He added that the deal is now likely to be announced next week.

The core banking units of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group have extended the vast majority of Sharp's 510 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in syndicated loans which are due at the end of the month.

Major customers of Foxconn include or have included: (From Wikipedia)

• Acer Inc. (Taiwan)^[56]
• Amazon.com (United States)^[8]
• Apple Inc. (United States)^[57]
• BlackBerry Ltd. (Canada)^[58]
• Cisco (United States)^[59]
• Dell (United States)^[60]
• Google (United States)^[61]
• Hewlett-Packard (United States)^[62]
• Huawei (China)^[63]
• Microsoft (United States)^[64]
• Motorola Mobility (United States)^[60]
• InFocus (United States)
• Nintendo (Japan)^[65]
• Nokia (Finland)^[57][66]
• Sony (Japan)^[67]
• Toshiba (Japan)^[68]
• Xiaomi (China)^[69]
• Vizio (United States)^[70]

AND LENOVO... 

From Pocketnow

Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Acer, Nokia, Toshiba, Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, are just a few of Foxconn’s largest clients. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group, is a Taiwanese company that also happens to be the world’s largest electronics contractor manufacturer. At a recent company shareholder meeting, the company’s chairman, Terry Guo, made some reassuring statements.

According to Guo, this year, in 2015, Foxconn will become the world’s largest desktop, tablet, and smartphone OEM (original equipment manufacturer) / ODM (original design manufacturer). Foxconn is also the largest OEM for iPhones, and Guo reassured the shareholders — worried about Apple contracting other OEMs — that the company has been collaborating with Apple since the first generation of its products, and will continue to be Apple’s major OEM.

Thank you William!

Huawei opens Research and Development office down the road...

In its entirety so none of it will be lost.

Please check it out at the source.

Thanks Bart

Seattle Times

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies will open a Bellevue office in March that will eventually grow to 100 employees, the company confirmed Wednesday.

The research and development office will be staffed by up to about 100 people “sometime in 2017,” said company spokesman William Plummer.

Huawei’s lease is said to be about 11,000 square feet on the fifth floor of the Plaza Center in downtown Bellevue, according to Grant Yerke, a senior vice president at Broderick Group, a Bellevue real-estate company.

Yerke noted that the space is not large enough for 100 people, but the company may have an option to expand.

Plummer said he couldn’t share further details now about the future office or the company’s current presence in the region. He could not immediately confirm the location of the Bellevue office.

Huawei follows Salesforce into the Bellevue market, where Yerke said a “broad spectrum” of business tenants, not just tech companies, are searching for space.

Plans for the new Huawei office were first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Huawei, based in Shenzhen, China, has emerged as one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers and is also a force in telecommunications equipment.

The company lists a Bellevue and a Kirkland office on its website, and more than 40 people in the Greater Seattle area have LinkedIn profiles that say they work at Huawei.

LinkedIn job postings show Huawei has 39 open positions in Bellevue.













Rachel Lerman: rlerman@seattletimes.com; on Twitter @rachelerman.