The IT Nerd

Things go from bad to worse for Huawei with the news via the paywalled Wall Street Journal that says that T-Mobile has come forward to say that as far back as as 2014 Huawei had tried to steal plans for a robot developed by T-Mobile to test its phones. The Wall Street Journal also reports that federal charges are inbound on this front as well. What also doesn’t help Huawei is that this was fought in civil court and Huawei lost to the tune of $4.8 million in 2017.

Seeing as the rarely seen CEO of the company came out this week to say that they don’t spy for China and they like Donald Trump, the timing of this sucks for them. And it likely means that more bad news for the apparently shady Chinese telco is likely inbound.

I am guessing the pressure is getting to Huawei because the CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei who isn’t known for sitting down for the media had a lot of things to say to the media today. Starting with this:

In a rare sit down with international media, Ren Zhengfei addressed concerns raised by the U.S. government, which has warned that the company’s equipment could allow the Chinese government to have a backdoor into a nation’s telecommunications network. Ren, speaking Mandarin and using a company-provided translator, told the group that Huawei has never handed data to Beijing. “When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection we are committed to be sided with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual,” Ren told the journalists assembled at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

Well. I don’t believe that as I find it highly implausible that if the Chinese government came knocking on the door of a Chinese company asking them to facilitate spying, that the company in question would not comply. Especially since China has laws that pretty much say that they have to comply.

He also said this:

“China’s ministry of foreign affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install mandatory back doors. Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information,”

Sure. Right. I believe that as much as I believe in the tooth fairy as Huawei simply saying that they haven’t been requested to put backdoors into their equipment isn’t the same thing as proving that this isn’t the case. At this point they need to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Then there was this:

Ren added. […] But Ren actually praised the U.S. president. “For President Trump as a person, I still believe he is a great president,” he said. “In the sense that he was bold to slash taxes. And I think that’s conducive for the development of industries in the United States.”

Clearly this guy knows that President Trump loves it when people pay him compliments. So he’s clearly trying to get onto his good side. What effect that will be interesting to see.

The fact that this event happened is very unusual. Thus I fully expect more “unusual” things to happen as Huawei tries to change the narrative on this story.

This isn’t a good time for Huawei. Late last week, Weijing Wang was nicked by Polish Authorities for spying:

Poland’s counter-espionage agency has charged a Chinese manager at tech giant Huawei in Poland and one of its own former officers with espionage against Poland on behalf of China, Polish state television reported on Friday.

The two men were arrested on Tuesday, according to the Internal Security Agency. Polish security agents also searched the offices of Huawei and Orange, Poland’s leading communications provider, where the Pole had recently worked, seizing documents and electronic data. The homes of both men were also searched, according to TVP, the state broadcaster.

The timing sucks for Huawei as they have been saying to anyone who will listen that all this spying stuff is overblown and they can be trusted. In the case of Poland, they’re considering limits on the use of Huawei gear.

A government official who is responsible for cyber security told Reuters “abrupt” policy changes towards Huawei were not warranted after the arrests.

But he said the use of the company’s products by state entities could be reviewed.

“We will analyse whether … our decision can include an end to the use … of Huawei products,” Karol Okonski told Reuters.

That must have freaked out Huawei as they’ve now sacked the employee in question:

The Chinese tech company Huawei on Saturday announced it has fired a sales director who was arrested in Poland and charged with spying for China, saying he has brought the firm’s reputation “into disrepute.”

The company said it has “decided to terminate the employment of Mr. Wang Weijing, who was arrested on suspicion of breaking Polish law.”

Sacking one employee isn’t going to make a difference. What will begin to make the difference for Huawei is if they are completely transparent and open themselves to having every portion of their business looked at by anyone who wants to look at them. Unless they do that, stories like these will be a death by a thousand cuts for them.

Reuters has the story of a bunch of people who work for embattled telcom company Huawei who decided that Tweeting happy new year from an iPhone was a really good idea. To be fair, they thought better of it and deleted the Tweet, but not before it went viral. For example, famous tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee took a screenshot of the Tweet:

Huawei execs got wind of this and sent out a memo on January 3, announcing punishments for the employees involved in this rather embarrassing incident. The two employees who were directly responsible for this were demoted and their monthly salaries were reduced by 5,000 yuan. That’s about $728 USD. Huawei has also frozen the pay rank of its digital marketing director for 12 months. But this isn’t the first time that Huawei has had this problem. Gal Gadot who is otherwise known as the actress who plays Wonder Woman in the DC movie of the same name posted a  tweet promoting the Huawei Mate 10 from an iPhone. Which ironically Marques Brownlee caught as well (click the Tweet for proof):

Plus they were caught using a pro camera to fake images so that they could demonstrate how good the cameras on their phones were….. Twice. Clearly this is a company who has issues beyond the fact that their CFO being arrested and people thinking that they are a threat to national security.

Huawei is reportedly going to give up on selling its products and services in the United States due to Washington’s accusations that the company has ties to the Chinese government:

Huawei’s tactics are changing as its business prospects in the United States have darkened considerably. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to proceed with a new rule that could effectively kill off what little business the company has in the United States. Although the proposed rule does not mention Huawei by name, it would block federally subsidized telecommunications carriers from using suppliers deemed to pose a risk to American national security. Huawei’s latest moves suggest that it has accepted that its political battles in the United States are not ones it is likely to win. “Some things cannot change their course according to our wishes,” Eric Xu, Huawei’s deputy chairman, said at the company’s annual meeting with analysts on Tuesday. “With some things, when you let them go, you actually feel more at ease.”

That’s an enlightened view of things. I guess they’re going to go off, lick their wounds and wait for Donald Trump to be out of office to try entering the US again. One wonders if ZTE who is also in the crosshairs of a lot of people will do the same?

Both CNBC and CNET are reporting that Best Buy will be parting ways with Huawei and won’t be selling their phones in their stores. This comes after AT&T and Verizon backed away from dealing with the Chinese phone maker.

This continues a pattern of pressure from the US government to keep Huawei out of the market due to spying concerns. And you know that this will really hurt as Best Buy is everywhere in the US and not having access to their stores will make it difficult for Huawei to get any traction in the US. But it also brings up another question. Huawei has a presence in Canada both on the retail side, and with telcos buying their gear. One wonders if that will start to change if the US continues to go down this path.