For the most part, CES normally consists of multiple tech events, product reveals, and marketing buzz. However, the CEO of Huawei, Richard Yu, broke from the mold by essentially roasting US carriers over their inability to carry Huawei products.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7YyzoI1yyo&t=16s
At first, the presentation seemed normal, with about an hour spent on the usual product-related discussion. Once the presentation hit the ‘Something I Want to Share’ slide though, the executive went off. Yu pointed out that American phone buyers couldn’t have the best choice. Why? Because Huawei products were not included in the choices. The decision to bar the tech brand’s products from carrier availability stemmed from US lawmakers. They urged companies like AT&T to cut ties with Huawei due to national security concerns.
Yu also discussed the history of mistrust that the Huawei brand had to go through. This includes the naysayers in China, when Huawei were newcomers. ‘We win the trust of the Chinese carriers, we win the trust of the emerging markets’, said Yu. He also added that eventually they would ‘win the trust of the global carriers, all the European and Japanese carriers.’ The exec also pointed out that Huawei served ‘over 70 million people worldwide’, proving their merit as a phone brand.
All in all, it seems that the best parts of CES 2018 come from people with passion, and people who are speaking sincerely from the heart. For this brief moment with the Huawei CEO Richard Yu, people saw that kind of sincere passion.