Can You Say 'WAH-wey'? Low-Cost Phones Find Niche

Huawei, the world's second-biggest maker of telecom-network equipment, has been stymied in trying to sell that gear in the U.S. due to security concerns in Washington. But the company's expanding device business has found a niche with American consumers. As carriers set their sights on one of the last sources of growth in U.S. telecom—smartphone adoption among lower-income consumers—Huawei has been there with some of the cheapest phones available, and it doesn't seem to matter that buyers can't quite get their heads around the name. Huawei, which ranks ninth world-wide in mobile-device sales, aims to be one of the top three mobile-phone brands by 2015.