People who now use a Huawei phone don’t notice the decision of Google for now. That is what Tim Wijkman, researcher at Telecompaper, says. Google restricts the Chinese smartphone maker’s access to its operating system Android, on the instructions of the US government, but that does not apply to existing phones. Also for the next devices, which are already being developed and approved by Google, there are no major consequences.
Huawei is “downgraded” to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). That is the simplest version of Android. “That means that people with a Huawei smartphone may no longer have access to Google’s Play Store and will not be able to use Google apps such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. People have to go to Huawei’s own app store, the AppGallery, to download their apps. ”
The decision mainly has consequences for Europe, Wijkman thinks. “Huawei hardly has any market share in the United States. Google is not active in China, Chinese use their own services such as Baidu. Europe is the second largest market for Huawei. ”
But according to Wijkman, the ban could have the opposite effect. Huawei users may be driven into the arms of China.
“Huawei already took into account that this would happen, they already had their own operating system in the making. It may be that they now decide to introduce that. ”And perhaps more Chinese companies are following that example. “All operating systems and most processors are from the US. Android, Windows and iOS are American. The United States itself has potentially a great deal of insight into intelligence abroad. But China is becoming more powerful in the tech field. Perhaps China is now deciding to become self-sufficient. For the US that is economically and politically more dangerous. “
“Perhaps America uses this as a toy to push through a trade agreement with China. Perhaps the ban will be revoked as soon as there is an agreement. It is a chess game, the next move is difficult to predict. “
About the author: John Campbell
John Campbell is the godfather of Polimedia and the oldest author from the whole team. His occasional guidance is crucial for everyone he advises.
