There seems to be one prerequisite for competing in the phone market: you have to compare yourself to Apple, mock Apple, and generally declare that Apple products are nothing more than store-label caviar.
Huawei has decided that it won't stoop to such things. Instead, it will mock both Apple and Samsung.
In a video posted Sunday to YouTube, the Chinese company wants you to know that it will create revelatory excitement at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
It features a Siri-like character explaining that there will be a beautiful, slim tablet. There will also be a smartphone with an "amazing" front camera and a multimedia tablet that is wonderful for, well, entertainment.
A male voice suddenly asks Siri about who might have made such marvelous objects, the idea of which is so revolutionary
The voice says: "What are they? Fruit or Somesong?"
I pause for guffaws. Or, perhaps, for some song about apples rotting in a drought-blighted orchard.
Meanwhile, this particular Siri has developed an answer: "No. They are Huawei. It looks like Huawei is ready to amaze the world again."
I must confess that Huawei amazed me at CES 2013 mostly with the quite spectacular levels of uniformed security around its booth.
I wonder, though, whether Huawei has developed quite the brand following in order to get away with such an unfunny joke at the expense of the brand leaders.
Not that they're likely to care, of course.
