Huawei which is currently facing a US government ban following which it could no longer avail Google services such as Google Play Store, YouTube, Gmail, and other mobile services supplied by the American search engine seems to be undeterred by the ban and its consequences. Now, just months after launching it's own OS, the Chinese technology giant is all set to replace some of Google's apps and services soon.
According to the Economic Times, Huawei's online sub-brand Honor is currently in talks with top app developers in India to create apps and services akin to Google's with an aim to replace Google's Mobile Sevices on its phones.
Huawei Mobile Services
Google Mobile Services or GMS include popular apps such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and Google Maps. Huawei and Honor India CEO, Charles Peng has confirmed the development of Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) which would eventually replace GMS on its phones. He is confident that some of the GMS apps and services will be replaced by HMS as soon as possible.
"We have our own HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) and are trying to build a mobile ecosystem," Peng said, adding that most of the key apps such as navigation, payments, gaming and messaging will be ready soon.
HMS will be similar to GMS
The top-executive also said that the apps and services developed under HMS will be similar to those under GMS. He reassures consumers will not see many differences between HMS and GMS.
Huawei ran into trouble in January earlier this year with the US Department of Justice charging the company of spying for China, but has been undeterred by the ban and its consequences ever since. As soon as the US charged Huawei and ordered Google to refrain from providing its services to the tainted company, Huawei was quick to respond that it was prepared for the worse and said that it was already working on its own mobile operating system called Hongmeng.
The company went on to launch the OS which is also called Harmony OS, last month. And now, the world's second largest smartphone manufacturer is focused on making its OS more robust and is working with developers to deliver a good user experience to its customers.
Huawei has invested $1 billion in HMS
Huawei is reportedly investing around $1 billion (S$1.4billion) globally for the development of it's HMS, and is also providing incentives up to $17,000 for app developers. Huawei is said to have around one million registered add developers working on HMS. It will be used on upcoming Huawei and Honor phones which do not have access to GMS.
Creating end-to-end business model with developers
Peng said in a statement: "Huawei headquarters is in touch with China developers and India developer base will help us in India as well as regions like Europe. In every country, we will focus on bringing top 100-150 apps to customers through HMS. We will create an end-to-end business model with developers, content and service providers. We will provide value to them."
If the ensuing trade war between US and China continues, a full ban on Huawei seems imminent, but it looks like technology giant is already prepared for the worst.
