Huawei Hongmeng OS
Yesterday Google announced they would be ending their relationship with Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei. While at first this seemed like a major blow to the company, which has based their devices in Google’s Android platform, it seems it may not be so bad. It comes as a surprise to many in the tech world to learn that Huawei Hongmeng OS has been under development for nearly 7 years. The announcement from Google that will effectively ban Huawei devices from accessing the Android platform in the future has not caught the tech company unprepared.
Huawei CEO Was Ready
TechJuice reports that Huawei CEO Richard Yu was not caught by surprise with this change of relationship status with Google. He had stated in March that the company had been working on the Huawei Hongmeng OS since 2012. According to him it was initiated in order to be prepared for a situation similar to what the company now finds itself in. The increased tension between the US and China in relationship to trade agreements has spilled over into the tech world. Because of this Chinese companies are working quickly to ensure they can maintain market stability in case of a complete breakdown in trade between the two countries.
Other Companies Feeling The Sting Of US Bans
Last year ZTE was in the crosshairs of US officials. The company allegedly sold equipment to Iran, which led to a US ban on all ZTE devices in the United States. If Huawei finds itself in a similar position, the company will undoubtedly feel the pain in terms of revenue loss. However, while being banned from the Android platform will almost certainly kill the company’s market share outside of China, the development of Huawei Hongmeng OS could salvage the company within the borders.
Android And iOS Own The Market
In terms of global market share Android and iOS are without doubt the dominate forces. The two operating systems control more than 99% of the world’s smartphone and mobile devices. Other companies have tried to break into the mobile OS market, but have not been very successful. Even Microsoft, with its Windows Mobile OS was not able to dent the stranglehold of Apple and Google on this area. Huawei Hongmeng OS will most likely not be a strong competitor globally, but the company could manage to hold its own within China itself.
How Will China Respond
It is unclear how China will respond to this ban on Huawei, but most likely Apple will feel the brunt of the blow. It seems likely that China may impose a high tariff on Apple products sometime in the near future, as a means of striking back at America. This could severely impact Apple’s sales in China, and although it would not cripple the tech giant, it would decrease revenue. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if Huawei Hongmeng OS can help the company rebound from this blow. It is possible that the company may have been prepared enough to survive losing the Android OS as its platform.
