Corporate China | Weibo: Huawei's loss, Smartisan's headaches

Smartphone chatter has dominated the microblogging realm among tech executives this past week, led by nonstop debate surrounding the hyperactive Xiaomi and its newly launched fourth-generation model. But I'm personally growing a bit tired of this company, and thus thought I'd turn my attention this week to smartphone chatter from two lower profile brands, namely the unappreciated Huawei and recently launched Smartisan brand.

Huawei executives were in a state of mourning over the past week following the sudden death of one of their colleagues, cellphone chip executive Wang Jin. Meantime, Smartisan's top executive was bemoaning problems facing his young company due to capacity constraints, as several CEOs of similar young rival brands looked on in sympathy that was perhaps mixed with just a touch of gloating.

But the rise of a parallel group of much smaller, boutique brands has been less visible, with names like Smartisan, OnePlus, IUNI and Oppo all trying to carve out their own spaces in the market. While I have a certain degree of admiration for these smaller brands and the people behind them, I do sense that most lack the experience and resources for long-term success. That means most are likely to ultimately end up on the in the rubbish bin of gadget history over the next few years.

So it's not surprising that Luo has run into his first major obstacle less than two months after the launch of his maiden product, the Smartisan T1. It seems demand was stronger than Luo anticipated, leading to product shortages due to lack of manufacturing capacity and other supply chain bottlenecks. Of course, a more seasoned manufacturing professional probably would have done more market research and drafted a back-up plan to allow for this kind of unexpectedly strong demand.