Huawei unveils Harmony operating system, won’t ditch Android for smartphones

DONGGUAN, China/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Huawei Technologies unveiled on Friday its proprietary operating system for smartphones and different gadgets, as U.S. commerce restrictions imposed in May threaten to chop the Chinese agency’s entry to U.S. applied sciences corresponding to Android.

Huawei mentioned that for now it could stick with utilizing Google’s Android for smartphones, and the brand new software program shall be steadily rolled out to help gadgets corresponding to smartwatches, audio system and digital actuality devices.

The new OS is a part of Huawei’s try and develop its personal applied sciences from chips to software program to scale back its reliance on U.S. companies amid an intensifying U.S.-China commerce battle.

President Donald Trump mentioned on Friday that the United States was not going to do enterprise with Huawei however that might change if there was a commerce deal.

Huawei had beforehand given little details about the software program, fueling hypothesis about how shortly or successfully it may discover a substitute for the Android system.

“Harmony OS is completely different from Android and iOS,” mentioned Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s client enterprise group referring to operating techniques developed by Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).

“You can develop your apps once, then flexibly deploy them across a range of different devices,” he instructed a builders’ convention held in Dongguan in southern China, the place Huawei has constructed a lavish new campus modeled on European cities.

President Trump’s administration has warned that Huawei may very well be a car for Chinese espionage and put the corporate on a so-called “entity list”, which means that U.S. companies that conduct enterprise with the telecoms big now require particular licenses to take action.

Huawei’s Yu mentioned the corporate has no up to date data on whether or not it may possibly proceed to make use of Android.

ATTRACTING DEVELOPERS

Huawei will not be the primary main tech firm looking for to develop a strong ecosystem round its personal software program. Its larger rival Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) has been utilizing its personal operating system known as Tizen in smartwatches and televisions.

But makes an attempt by the South Korean agency to develop Tizen to problem Android in smartphones have been thwarted by lack of help from builders.

Marko Yang, an investor in developer studios who attended the convention, nevertheless, mentioned he believed the dimensions of the Chinese market would assist Huawei overcome such an issue. Huawei says there are greater than 800,000 builders in its product ecosystem.

“The Chinese market is huge, there are many users and they have many demands, and solving their demands will result in many apps, products, and when this happens it will, from the periphery, create a core ecosystem, and the Chinese market will go on to spur the overseas market,” Yang mentioned.

Yu…