The Huawei IDEOS sells over 60,000 units in Kenya.
Press Release
Nairobi, Kenya, 17 May, 2011

Huawei, a leader in providing innovative telecommunication solutions for operators around the world has today announced that the Huawei IDEOS is the most popular smart phone in Kenya for the first quarter of 2011.
This is according to a report by GFK Retail and Technology, one of the world’s leading independent market researcher tracking sales data in technical consumer goods and entertainment in over 80 countries worldwide. The IDEOS was launched during the 2010 Christmas period with the phone gaining  wide acceptance in the market.
Mr. Herman He, CEO Huawei announced that, “Since the IDEOS launch five months ago, so far over 60,000 pieces have been sold and we are moving towards the 100,000 piece mark with its share of the local smartphone market at 45% in the first quarter of the year, making it the top selling device with February alone reaching 73%.â€
“We are delighted by the IDEOs’ outstanding performance and we hereby affirm our commitment to continue providing quality and affordable products to Kenyansâ€. Mr. He added.
Mr. He also said that Delivering connectivity for users’ thorough smart devices was one of Huawei’s core objectives for 2011, with the IDEOS devices designed to provide smart and efficient connectivity to deliver a simple and premium end user experience .
The success has partly been attributed to a strategic partnership with Safaricom as the main distributor and marketer of the smart phone, Google for their Android 2.2 platform, and QUALCOMM for the chipsets.
Safaricom Head of Retail Morris Maina said the partnership was a major win for Kenyan consumers and presented a strategic fit for Safaricom in its quest to drive up data uptake by availing affordable internet enabled devices. The phone retails at KShs8,499, a KShs6,500 discount on its original price of KShs14,999. It also comes with free 600MB Safaricom data and Kshs1,000 worth of Safaricom airtime.
“Safaricom believes that innovations and value proposition will be key in winning consumers as the market becomes increasingly competitive. We are thus happy to be in a partnership that subscribes to these tenets and understands that affordability is key in a market like Kenya. The availability and increased take-up of this device opens a new world of immense possibilities to our subscribers and greatly increases the utility they can derive from our network, the only one with 3G capability in the market,†said Mr Maina.
Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo noted that the mobile phone has permeated every sphere of life in Kenya. “In the beginning of the 21st century, the mobile telephone was the reserve of an elite few and the gadget’s sole purpose was to make phone calls and send text messages. Today, all this has changed and the mobile phone is no longer a luxury but a necessity,†said Dr. Ndemo.
“By morphing and adopting into various aspects of our lives, the mobile phone has gone beyond its original purpose of phone calls and text messages and it now serves as a bank, a computer a radio and a television set among other things. In a nutshell, it has penetrated every aspect of our lives,†he added.
10 Comments
Good read. I know other phone manufacturers are now wondering how Huawei managed to take over 45% market share for smartphones. And I hope they are working very hard to partner with Airtel, Yu and Orange. We want and like competition, the kind that is both beneficial to the manufacturers, service providers and of course the consumers.
I bet its leading the sales race – I bought 8 of them when I was in Kenya in March. Are they still for sale? I thought Safaricom was running out back then. Only the pink ones were left.
@wayan they are still selling very very well. I that everyone has an IDEOS these days. Even school kids. I bet it will be known as the phone that ushered in the change to Android in Kenya in a few years time.
Ideos is a clown of HTC my touch fake chinese imitation selling cheaply only in kenya courtsey of safaricom and MJ!
There is no way that the Huawei IDEOS is worth Sh 14,999. Samsung’s Galaxy 5 goes for Sh 13,000 and it has higher specs and is overall a better android device. We know that all capitalist ventures have a money making motive, Huawei should not try to make it seem like they are doing us a favor by selling this device to us at almost half price, they must be making a profit or they would not be selling the device at all. Chinese imitation has given us robust phones at lower prices, they should admit that the IDEOS is a product of that, instead of lying that the phone is worth 15k. Danganya wengine!
I simply love this phone because no smart phone compares to IDEOS at that price.
I have been using Ideos for about 4 months now, the performance is fantastic and I have never experienced any problems with it whatsoever. Whether its a ‘fake Chinese’ are some call it, you have all the freedom in the world to buy the other types of your choice. As for the statistics, I think in the next 2 years we’ll see a ‘smart’ Kenya, and a bunch of rich Android developers. Nice post Moses!
Clayton Ongige:
I dont like when people write from no point of knowledge. |You make Everyone that has the right knowledge want to blow you off.
Samsung galaxy only advantage over the IDeos is just the screen which has 16M colors. all other features are so low you better not get that phone. Samsung has 2mp camera against Ideos 3.15 Mp,memory S% has 170, Ideos 20 and to say the best of Ideos has ARM 11 processor and Samsung has A8 forget the megaherz. the other company that uses ARM 11 is Nokia phones and that is teh reason they are very fast…if there was more space i would have continued dude..
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This phone is just great. It is worth the response that it has received from the Kenyan market.
I have been using it for some time and surely there is nothing to regret to this far.