Huawei may expand in Rolling Meadows, offers more smartphones

China-based Huawei U.S. has an office in Rolling Meadows that may expand soon judging by the rollout of its latest low-cost consumer devices. T-Mobile USA is offering Huawei’s MyTouch and MyTouch Q, both featuring the so-called Genius Button for easy setup and tutorials and other easy-to-use features on a 4G network.

Most of all, the devices are in an affordable range: Both will be offered on T-Mobile later this summer, in stores and online at www.t-mobile.com, for $49.99 after $50 mail-in rebate card and a two-year contract.

Offering new technology for that price point is expected to help Huawei’s consumer products division grow faster this year, said Bill Plummer, vice president of Public Affairs for Huawei U.S.

“We’ve taken a broad approach to the market,” Plummer said.

Huawei is expected to roll out even more consumer smartphones and tablets later this year, he said.

“About 2 years ago we started this push after we noticed the phenomena taking place with consumers trapped in feature phones because they were concerned about the high cost of smartphones. So they just wouldn’t change,” Plummer said.

So Huawei’s strategy is to offer smartphones using the Android platform at a low cost to get you hooked. They also are running a campaign now, asking consumer input on what they want their smartphone to do for them that it doesn’t already do. While it won’t tuck you in bed at night, it may offer more features in the future, based on consumer input, he said.

“We’re ‘democratizing’ the smartphone,” he said.

Surfing: Beginning July 15, the Motorola Mobility Atrix HD arrives at AT&T Wireless for channels for $99.99 with a two-year agreement. It comes pre-loaded with SmartActions, a free app from Motorola that suggests ways to automatically change your phone’s settings throughout the day to make your life easier. Motorola Mobility is based in Libertyville, at least for now ...

Ÿ Deerfield-based introduced a developer portal that allows third-party software developers to integrate the Walgreens QuickPrints software development kit, enabling photo printing directly from your iPhone and Android mobile devices. See developer.walgreens.com.

ŸAMightyRiver.com and iHispano.com, the networking websites and job boards for black and Hispanic professionals in Chicago, are launching a group to provide members with a direct line to the White House. The mission of AMightyRiver.com and iHispano.com is to impact access and opportunity for black and Hispanic professionals and enable corporations to implement their diversity hiring initiatives effectively. To access the site, go to www.aMightyRiver.com and www.iHispano.com.

ŸFollow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter. Write to her at akukec@dailyherald.com.