Huawei has been working on its own operating system for years now, but varying reports say the OS will either be ready this fall or not as soon as the company might need it to be.
Richard Yu, Huawei’s CEO of the consumer business group, gave more details about the operating system called Project Z, and said the software will be available later this fall or early next year, according to the Chinese publication Caijing,
XDA Developers reported that Yu said the software will be compatible with all Android apps and will be available on phones, computers, tablets, TVs, cars and wearables.
San Francisco-based publication The Information noted that the operating system was “far from ready” and claims that it would rely on third-party developers to create apps for it. The report said the OS was originally meant to be used in the Chinese market.
The Globe and Mail also reported that Huawei “has already built up a 10-month storage of chips and components provided by U.S. companies,” and is working towards a plan that involves not relying on U.S. suppliers in the future.
“We have already developed a solution for replacing American chip and component suppliers with suppliers from other countries, so that we can fulfill all contracts signed with our global customers and meet future demand,” Alykhan Velshi, vice-president of corporate affairs told The Globe and Mail. “We have built up a stock of spare parts used for maintaining live network equipment worldwide for the next five to six years to ensure operational continuity of equipment already used in our customers’ networks, including in Canada.”
Google made the decision to suspend its business, which would involve “the transfer of hardware and software products” on May 19th. It said it would only allow Huawei “to be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google.”
The block comes after Trump signed an executive order that would ban any foreign company from supplying U.S. companies with equipment if they pose a national security threat. Huawei Canada told MobileSyrup that it would continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei smartphone and tablet products “covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.”
On May 20th, the U.S. Commerce Department (USCD) granted Huawei a temporary licence allowing it to maintain its current networks and to release software updates to existing Android devices. However, the licence expires on August 19th, which the USCD said is enough time for companies to make alternate arrangements.
Source: Xda Developers, The Globe and Mail
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