Corporate China | Weibo: Huawei, ZTE chase 'cool', Xiaomi chases Apple

Stodgy telecoms giants ZTE (0763.HK) and Huawei were fighting a heated battle in the microblogging realm to be the "New Cool of School" last week, as each trumpeted niche smartphone brands aimed at copying the success of the ultra-trendy Xiaomi. But the original "King of Cool" had no time for the pair of challengers, and instead hinted at a major new global distribution deal as it chases its own role model, global tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The subtext of all this is that everyone making smartphones ultimately wants to imitate Apple, whose careful cultivation of a premium and trendy image over the years has helped it to stay on top in the fast-changing world of high-tech gadgets for far longer than most companies.

Most of Yu's microblog posts trumpeted three newly launched Honour models, including one costing less than 1,000 yuan (HK$1267). Yu makes no secret of who his main target is, at one point challenging online buyers to compare the new Honor models with comparable ones from Xiaomi.

In an interesting tactical move, Yu even solicits an endorsement from Zhou Hongyi, the founder of controversial security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). Zhou has his own contentious relationship with Xiaomi co-founder Jun Lei, so perhaps it's not too surprising to see him throwing his support behind Huawei and Honor. In one of his own microblog posts, Zhou has special praise for the Honor 3C model costing only 798 yuan, exactly one yuan less than Xiaomi's low-cost Hongmi model rolled out during the summer. 

Meantime, ZTE's Ni Fei was also blitzing the airwaves with his own series of microblog posts hyping his company's Nubia line of smartphones. ZTE re-launched the brand in China two weeks ago, using a major online campaign that looked strikingly similar to the kind used by Xiaomi. Unlike Huawei, ZTE's new Nubia models cost 1,499 yuan and 1,999 yuan, taking aim at Xiaomi's more mainstream models.

Ni and ZTE Vice President Kan Yulun were both full of praise for themselves for another online promotion that saw the Nubia z5s mini model, which costs 1,499, log orders for 83,000 units in the first one minute and 48 seconds of the sale. The posts are purely promotional and not really worth repeating here, but they do show that ZTE and Huawei are suffering from a serious case of Xiaomi envy. Whether or not Honor or Nubia will succeed in copying Xiaomi's "cool" business model is an open question for now; but if I were betting I'd put the chances for success at less than 30 per cent in each case.