The Chinese smart TV and phone manufacturer LeEco introduced its products in a glitzy presentation show last Wednesday in San Francisco.
This is the first time that LeEco has made available its products to the U.S. market, pinning its hope on the market potential of the Le Pro3 phone, which priced at $399, can compete with phones with comparable specs like Google Pixel XL or Apple's iPhone 7. Le Pro3 is set at a price hundreds of dollars lower than the leading brands.
LeEco started in China as streaming video service supplier and has ventured into producing other products like smart phones and TV. The company is introducing high end 4K smart TV's in addition to the standard models made available by Vizio, a smart TV company that LeEco recently purchased at $2 billion.
LeEco displayed and demonstrated the ultramodern features of its bicycle "Super Bike", complete with onboard communications, sensor locking mechanisms and direction signals. The launching was graced by the top executives of Qualcomm and Lionsgate.
The presentation show had a plan to parade the LeSee prototype car and self drive Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting into the front stage. The plan did not push through since the car met an accident along the way from Los Angeles and a replacement car from London could not reach San Francisco on time.
Plans are being made to launch the prototype vehicle at some later time in collaboration with Faraday Future, a LeEco funded company engaged in the development of electric cars.
The question plaguing the mind of market analysts is whether LeEco can penetrate the U.S. market. Danny Bowman, LeEco's Chief revenue officer believes that the company will eventually infiltrate the market after setting up partnerships with wireless suppliers and industry retailers.
In the meantime, LeEco is relying on its price advantage to capture a slice of the smart phone and TV markets.
