On 19th of October, LeEco made their official debut into the US market. According to speech made by Jia Yeuting, the CEO and founder of LeEco in San Francisco, LeEco would begin selling their smartphones and Smart TVs from Nov. 2nd. Along with their main products, TV and smartphone, they have also presented streaming service, bike and automobile, all of which will compose the whole ecosystem.
Compared to other companies leading in consumer electronics market such as Apple and Samsung, LeEco takes a different approach. Their products are at more affordable prices which, on the other hand, means less earnings for the company. However, because what LeEco aims is not restrained to selling one or two products more, but rather to establish their ecosystem where people are using LeEco’s devices, consuming LeEco’s contents, driving LeEco’s car and shopping in LeEco’s shopping platform. So, short-term profit is not so much of their concern, according to Jia Yeuting.
LeEco has been preparing quite thoroughly for successfully settling in the US market, mainly through partnerships and acquisition. LeEco announced the plans to acquire TV manufacturing company Vizio Inc. in US. And LeEco’s streaming service would include content from their partners, such as MGM, Lionsgate, VICE and Showtime.
LeEco seems to be a little different from other Chinese upstart Tech companies such as Huawei or Xiaomi. It is hard to define this company as hardware company. LeEco is equipped with all hardware, software, and contents. Some might say that LeEco is no more than a combination of Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Samsung, and Tesla. Could be. But it is still worthy to note that even if each product resembles already existing products, the magic to link them all into one ecosystem is indeed LeEco’s thing.
When Huawei is having a hard time in US market due to security problem and Xiaomi is not so different due to patent problem, it is difficult to pre-assume LeEco’s debut in US was the right strategy. But, at least at this point, market reactions are far from bad. As long as product is good, price is reasonable, and design is attractive, it seems like there is no reason that American consumers neglect LeEco’s products.
image credit: Sohu