China's tech company LeEco is all set to enter the consumer technology market in the U.S. and become a household name with a showy debut on Wednesday, Oct. 19, in San Francisco.
LeEco would be selling smartphones and smart TVs from Nov.2 in the U.S. The company unveiled its sleek smartphone LePro 3 and internet-connected TV LeEc uMax85.
The phone, LeEco LePro 3, is set to give competition to Apples' iPhone and Google's Pixel priced at $399 and its other phone Le S3 will cost $249. The uMax85 4K television is the most expensive at $4,999, which promises to give a better high-end home entertainment system.
The phones will include a 3-month trial to EcoPass content service. It is an online package of shows and movies. It would include content from MGM, Lionsgate, VICE and Showtime. LeEco would have to compete with Netflix, Amazon and host of other video services.
LeEco CEO Jia Yueting said, "America is the most important global market for us. Once we get the hearts and minds of U.S. users, we can move on to the hearts and minds of global users."
LeEco is known for its ambitious promises and marketing. It sprawled into multiple businesses including smartphones, TVs and cars. In an interview with AP, Jia said that USA has hit a "bottleneck" making its timing to enter the US market almost perfect.
LeEco, which acquired budget-TV maker Vizio in July for $2 billion, hopes to expand its base in US.
In the launch, Jia said that Apple and Samsung products come with high premium but they want to sell their hardware at cost and make profits through services.
Many market researchers and strategists have questioned LeEco strategy.
Cliff Maldonado, principal analyst at BayStreet Research, said that though the pricing is competitive but the packaging was not attractive enough.
He also questioned LeEco online strategy, saying US consumers are used to walking into stores for immediate services whereas LeEco looks at its retail strategy to reduce cost.
Others felt that LeEco is diverging itself into too many different fronts.
Many Chinese tech companies tried to step into US soil but failed. LeEco was compared to Xiaomi, which struggled to attract buyers.
