Nokia's distribution and sales channels would be an
attractive bargain for
Huawei, yes, but also for the brand
name, which I think could be considered
very valuable. If
you knew nothing at all about the product, Microsoft's
history as we know it - anything at all, which cell phone
would you be more
likely to buy? One with some practically
unknown Chinese name, or a brand name
you have known and a
least know has been trusted by people you know, if not you
yourself, for many years?
Clearly the name Huawei is well known for
cell phones by
many people here on Groklaw, but I had no idea they were
into
cell phones until I read peoples comments here on
Groklaw. Other than that, I
only know their name from news
articles about how their telephone equipment is
not welcome
in the USA. For me the name is damaged goods because of
this, and
other things I learned about that company since.
For example, there was a lot
of discussion about potential
backdoors in their router/modems. Then I read a
real
hacker's story about how they hacked into one of Huawei's
modems to see
what they could find. Turned out, there was no
need to concern ourselves about
secret backdoors in their
modems, because their routers was full of security
holes big
enough to drive a truck through. Anybody and their dog could
have
hacked into those modems - remotely.
On the other hand, I had a good
impression of Nokia,
until they got into bed with Microsoft that is. The first
cell phone I ever owned was a Nokia. The case was magnesium
I think, and it
fit in the hand and you flip up the top. I
loved that phone. I thought it was
so cool. This was a long
time ago. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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