Huawei Makes a Break From Android With Next Version of Harmony OS 27
China's Huawei will not support Android apps on the latest iteration of its in-house Harmony operating system, domestic financial media Caixin reported, as the company looks to bolster its own software ecosystem. From a report: The company plans to roll out a developer version of its HarmonyOS Next platform in the second quarter of this year followed by a full commercial version in the fourth quarter, it said in a company statement highlighting the launch event for the platform in its home city of Shenzhen on Thursday.
Huawei first unveiled its proprietary Harmony system in 2019 and prepared to launch it on some smartphones a year later after U.S. restrictions cut its access to Google's technical support for its Android mobile OS. However, earlier versions of Harmony allowed apps built for Android to be used on the system, which will no longer be possible, according to Caixin.
Huawei first unveiled its proprietary Harmony system in 2019 and prepared to launch it on some smartphones a year later after U.S. restrictions cut its access to Google's technical support for its Android mobile OS. However, earlier versions of Harmony allowed apps built for Android to be used on the system, which will no longer be possible, according to Caixin.
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People run Windows because it's the only option for most corporate desktop apps, and games.
That should be pretty clear and well understood, I'd think.
Sadly, Windows is still needed and Android really doesn't do much to dissuade that need, unfortunately - especially since each Android device leads to Microsoft getting $5-15 for every Android device sold. Microsoft isn't going away. That's more money than they used to make on each of their own phones, when they made them.
Re: Oh noes! Authoritarian China versus Authoritar (Score:2)
Windows is still needed for apps but that need is now only on the back end for many users due to 365. You can get all the apps delivered via the Web. More and more apps are going this way for good and ill, the primary good being less need to run Windows on workstations.
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From TFS, I reckon having more than 2 mobile device OS' is a good idea. We need more diversity in computing rather than everyone having to conform to what one or two companies decide is the design that everyone shoul
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Interesting, when do those expire?
Re: Oh noes! Authoritarian China versus Authoritar (Score:2)
Double take ... (Score:3)
Huawei Makes a Break From Android With Next Version of Harmony OS
I first thought it said "Hawaii" then [cleans glasses] ... But now I'd kinda like to read *that* story. :-)
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I'm half convinced we banned them here in the US simply because no one could pronounce their name.
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I'm half convinced we banned them here in the US simply because no one could pronounce their name.
I recently watched an interesting episode of NOVA Inside China's Tech Boom [pbs.org] (S50.E16) on Huawei and 5G -- it's pronounced "waa way".
I had 3, they were great (Score:1)
Remember Windows phones? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Huawei has a captive market though. People in China have to buy them because it boosts their social credit score, so Huawei could re-release Windows Mobile and still be making money hand over fist due to their position as a native Chinese company.
Depending on how hard the Chinese government pushes, there might be a good chance that subsequent phones have some sort of Android emulation eventually, because there is a critical mass, and as the parent mentions, without that mass of apps, might as well have a f
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They have no captive market. Chinese people can buy phones from Xiaomi, Oppo, ZTE, Lenovo, and a ton of other manufacturers.
From an American perspective (Score:3)
Microsoft already tried this and failed miserably. But admittedly I know nothing about Chinese social attitudes towards their mobile phones and maybe things will be different. I'm just looking at it from here in the US, where not being able to send text messages in the right color can be a dealbreaker for some smartphone shoppers.
CCP OS (Score:2)
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Yes, the first step is the US government banning their access to Android support. Now instead of having a nearly universal platform, they'll have an ethnoplatform. (I know it's based on nationality and not ethnicity, but this made up word sounds cooler.)
I can see the ads now... (Score:2)
"Huawei Smart Phones, for those times when you'd rather have China's Ministry of State Security poking into your affairs than the NSA."
This can work in China thanks to Wechat / Wecom (Score:5, Insightful)
In China, the compatibility with apps is not that important due to Wechat and its professional counterpart Wecom.
Those are full ecosystems within an app:
- real identification (you have proved who you are at a desk in person with your id card at the phone company and at the bank for your linked account)
- app store ("mini-programs") where you find absolutely everything you have on your phone in the west, and more
- payments: both online, physical, phone to phone + bank services (loans, savings...)
- and yes, a chat / social application
Once your phone OS has the Wechat app running, and in a lesser extend a few other competitors you don't really care about it's heavy apps ecosystem.
Prediction (Score:2)
Twenty or thirty years from now the world will look back on the China technology blockade as one of the dumbest human decisions of the century.
Kiss of death (Score:2)
As a former (happy) user of a Huawei phone, I would say it is the kiss of death. Apps matter, if the phone can't run the apps I want/need, then it is useless to me and I am moving to a different phone.
With this said, I can understand the reason: after those many years, Huawei tried but couldn't make their OS reliably run Android software, they are cut out from the main western platforms, practically there is no alternative. I am sorry for them, that old phone served me well for over 5 years and I still hav