Facing the commercial market with ever-increasing demand for digitalization, Huawei can't sit still after all.
Not long ago, in April, Huawei announced that it would change the name of "consumer business" to "terminal business" and enter the commercial market with a high profile. This move means that in addition to sticking to the consumer market, Huawei's terminal business will also simultaneously focus on the commercial field to serve government and enterprise customers.
Even though Huawei once had a bright moment in the consumer market and attracted the favor and followers of many users, the chip shortage in the past two years has still caused Huawei's consumer business to be hit hard, and its market share has not improved so far.
Therefore, in addition to the trend, Huawei's high-profile entry into the commercial market this time may also be due to the fact that Huawei wants to use the commercial market to make up for its shortcomings and shortcomings in the consumer market.
However, from the perspective of the market structure, the commercial market has basically "occupied" many powerful opponents, which is not a small challenge for Huawei. Furthermore, even if the halo of performance that has been obtained has not completely dissipated, is it really "workable" to enter the commercial market with the products and technologies launched by Huawei?
There are fierce tigers in the past, so it is difficult for Huawei to "get involved"?
At present, the torrent of digital transformation of government and enterprises has become unstoppable, and cloud technology, big data, and artificial intelligence are the three essential elements.
In recent years, the slogan of digital transformation of government and enterprises has become louder and louder, and the pace is gradually accelerating. Among them, office equipment and digital reform have become the highlight of the transformation.
In this regard, many players are aiming at the big cake of digital transformation of government and enterprises, trying to use this as a breakthrough to dig deeper into the incremental market, and Huawei is no exception.
However, at this time, Huawei entered the game with great fanfare, and it seems that it is "too late". Because judging from the current market situation, the commercial field dare not say that "a hundred flowers are blooming", but there are many old players who have been cultivating for many years. In addition to having a rich product line, they have also harvested a lot of "loyal fans" of their products.
According to previous statistics released by Canalys, in the second quarter of 2022, the total global shipments of desktops and notebooks will be 70.2 million units, an average annual decrease of 15.0%. Among them, Lenovo ranked No. 1 in terms of shipments in the second quarter, HP No. 2, Dell No. 3, Acer No. 4, and Asus No. 5. The shipments of each company declined compared with the same period last year, but the rankings did not change much.
In contrast, Huawei is "no name on the list."
Therefore, judging from the current market structure, this seems to be a stable situation that is difficult to "get involved".
It can be predicted that while Huawei is increasing its investment, other competitors such as ASUS, Dell, and HP are also catching up. And these brands, as the leading enterprises in the commercial market, may have more mature solutions in the face of the digital transformation trend of the commercial market, and at the same time, it is easier to gain consumers' recognition in terms of price and product quality.
And Lenovo, which ranks first, is clinging to the technology sector and will not relax. At the fiscal year oath ceremony some time ago, Lenovo President Yang Yuanqing once said that Lenovo will invest 100 billion in research and development in the next five years, and will also recruit a large number of hard-core technical personnel to consolidate its own technical team. From this point of view, there are still many unknowns whether Huawei's goal of grabbing the commercial market can be realized.
On the whole, for Huawei in the current situation, the commercial market may be an area that has mining value, but there are more than a few difficulties it wants to break through.
“A bit of an edge, but not much”
Grasping every coming trend of the times is the eternal long-term survival method for enterprises.
At present, the traditional commercial equipment market is basically saturated, and the technology needs to be updated urgently. In the face of this phenomenon, emerging commercial terminal equipment and modern technologies are the real way to break through in this industry digital war.
In other words, the biggest demand in the commercial market at present is the high degree of fit between digitalization and terminal equipment and the industry. To be more precise, in addition to helping government and enterprise users keep up with the digital trend, they must also have a good sense of experience and provide safe, reliable and customized product services.
Judging from Huawei's current advantages, the long-term accumulated influence in the consumer market and the technical strength of the Hongmeng system research and development are undoubtedly a continuation of its original advantages and an entry ticket to enter the commercial market.
However, the original advantages are the foundation and motivation to support the enterprise to move forward, but it is not a pass for the enterprise to pass through smoothly.
First, because the industry in the commercial field is more complex and diverse, with a higher degree of specialization, it naturally has higher requirements for relevant technical strength. As a new industry player, Huawei, not to mention that the Hongmeng system has not yet launched a PC version, it is obviously not feasible to directly graft the original advantages to the commercial field.
After all, Huawei's emphasis on "using mobile phone thinking to make a computer" is feasible but not necessarily feasible. On the one hand, it is too easy to stick to "mobile phone thinking". On the other hand, emerging commercial office equipment emphasizes intelligent interaction capabilities and convenience Efficient office experience is not enough to be "a little innovative" as emphasized by mobile phones.
Secondly, judging from the current market reputation of Huawei's commercial products, in addition to the relatively high price of the products that are criticized by people, whether the product quality can stand the test of the market remains to be answered by the market.
On the whole, Huawei focuses on the commercial market and has advantages, but judging from the market situation, "it's not too much". As for whether these advantages can bring back a city in its business, it is still unknown.
Opportunities and challenges coexist, can Huawei's "ambition" be satisfied?
It is undeniable that the digital reform of government and enterprises is a major trend, but players from all walks of life are still exploring. The diversity, complexity and professionalism of the industry have prevented the digital reform of government and enterprises from finding a good solution so far.
At the same time, although everyone is shouting the slogan of digital transformation, they are far from keeping up with the times in terms of intelligent equipment.
It is worth mentioning that, for the PC field, although the lockdown of the epidemic has led to a decline in demand in the consumer market and continued sluggish demand in the education field, the demand for desktop computers in the commercial field has shown an upward trend due to the increasing opening up of countries. Thereby stimulating the rise of shipments in this sector.
For participants such as Huawei, this is an opportunity and a great challenge.
It is undeniable that relying on its great popularity in the fields of communication technology and mobile phone business, it can bring a wave of "followers" to Huawei's entry into the commercial market. But in the long run, what the commercial market pays attention to is not only the practicability of the equipment, but also the ability to bring users an efficient and convenient office experience. The precipitation of technology and the long-term accumulation of experience are indispensable.
As for what is the stepping stone to the commercial market, and what kind of technology can lead the latest market, these answers must be found by Huawei.