Huawei Changes Strategy, Says It Wants to Work with Google Again

Huawei has changed its strategy in the long-distance dispute against the United States government, and after claiming it can survive on its own even without Android and Google apps and services, the company now comes back to say that it actually hopes to continue working together with Google.

In an interview with Wired, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, emphasizes that Huawei has been one big money-making machine for Google, so it would be in the interest of the search giant as well for the two to continue their collaboration.

The United States government banned Huawei from using products developed by American companies, including Google, last May. Since then, however, Huawei officials said on several occasions the Chinese firm can survive on its own, revealing the company was working on its own operating system to replace Android.

Surviving without Android

More recently, Huawei built its very own app store, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the company doesn’t admit the Google Play Store and Google services themselves are the best way to go in the Android world.

“In the past we’ve brought huge revenue and profit to US companies like Google and we have been very good partners. So, at Huawei, we still hope that we can continue to cooperate with Google. Hopefully we can get the license from the US government. We are open. In the interests of the value of those US companies, they should… I hope they can give us the license,” Yu said.

“We want to use all of Google’s services and to use the Play store as the primary choice with Huawei Mobile Services to offer more choice. We want to stay on the Android platform.”

Whether or not Huawei would be allowed to use Android and Google apps again in the future is something that remains to be seen, but for now, even the Chinese tech giant itself says it needs some two more years to get everything right in its app store. And these two years could obviously cause a substantial drop in the short term.