FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Huawei 'likely to launch own operating system'

Huawei 'likely to launch own operating system'

LOCAL businesses are watching if restricted access to Google updates for mobile services among Huawei users will push the Chinese company to develop a new operating system and new mobile services to support its customers.

Google on Monday announced that it would restrict Huawei’s access to updates of Google’s Android operating system and some mobile services in compliance with US government curbs on the Chinese tech company.
 Danupol Siamwalla, chief operating officer at DHA Siamwalla, said his firm views the announcement as a surrender by the US company, and would force Huawei to develop their own operating system and platform to support their business.
However, the restrictions would also trigger further economic and technology wars between the US and China, which would cause the disruption of adversaries’ technology in the near future.
Nuttaporn Voonklinhom, an executive at the Thailand e-Business Centre (TeC), said the restrictions would affect new smartphones that want to use new Google mobile service upgrades such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. As result, it would encourage the Chinese company to develop its own unique platform and a new operating system to support customers.
Moreover, he added, it would be an incentive for Google to set up a new business outside the US and change the name of its existing mobile services so as to support mobile-phone users with Huawei products. Currently, almost half of Google’s mobile service users access them from Chinese smartphones. Nuttaporn noted that smartphone products are not a major revenue source for Huawei, and so the move by Google does not have a large impact on Huawei. If Huawei closed its showroom and its business outlets in the US, it would affect around 50,000 employees in that country.
Meanwhile, a release from Huawei said the company had made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world.
As one of Android’s key global partners, the company had worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry, according to the release.
Huawei said it would continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphones and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and those that are still in stock globally. The firm will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally, the release said. |

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