MANILA, Philippines – A report by US entertainment magazine Variety on Tuesday, March 19, said Huawei may be looking into video streaming services as part of its push into Southeast Asia.
The report said content may be pushed via its own branded video app, and that "all Huawei smartphone users and technical subscribers" would be covered by the video-streaming service within 3 years. The report cites a senior Huawei representative speaking at a media session at Hong-Kong's Filmart, a film festival and film trade show.
Aside from having its own branded video app, Huawei may also push out content directly to users or third-party platforms delivering the content via smart TVs.
By 2019, the unnamed Huawei representative said the video app would reach 200 million mobile users.
The report doesn't cite specific Southeast Asian countries where the alleged video app may be appearing. The Huawei representative, however, cited Sri Lanka as one scenario pushing them to acquire content, saying that users there haven't found incentive to adopt 4G connections. High-quality video may be one way of stimulating that.
“Our understanding is that when people see higher-quality videos, they will be more likely to pay for higher definition,” the representative told Variety.
If Huawei's plans are indeed true, it will be reminiscent of global rival Apple's plans, which is expected to announce their own video streaming service on March 25.
Huawei already has a service similar to Apple iTunes having launched their music streaming service in the Middle East in 2018. – Rappler.com