Google Cuts Ties With Huawei After The United States Includes The Chinese In A Commercial Blacklist
Google has decided to cut off relations with Huawei after the Trump Administration included the Chinese firm in a commercial blacklist that blocks trade relations between US companies with numerous Chinese firms for alleged threats against national security.
Following the US order, Google has settled on the choice to suspend business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products, aside from those that are covered by open source licenses.
In this sense, Huawei quickly loses access to Android operating system updates and the next version of its mobile phones outside of China will also not have applications and services such as Google Play Store or Gmail.
However, the details of this decision are still being detailed within the Mountain View offices, so the total impact this decision will have on Huawei’s business is unknown.
Huawei does maintain the possibility of using the Android version, available through open source licenses and that can be used by any person or company, but loses Google’s technical support for its services and those of Android.
This decision by Google affects the smartphones that Huawei manufactures, both under the Huawei brand and under the Honor brand.
This is an unprecedented case that would leave Huawei with a half operating system. Huawei would lose access to the new versions of Android (and updates), the Google app store, Play Store and the email service, Gmail.
From Google, on the other hand, in a statement they have confirmed that these decisions have the sole reason to comply with Trump’s regulations. “Google Play and Google Play Protect security measures will continue to work on existing Huawei devices,” they explain from Android.
Huawei was already working on its own operating system
However, Huawei has been working for several years to create its own operating system for cases like these in which the United States will block the use of Android. A few days ago, Richard Yu, Rotary CEO of Huawei, announced that “we have prepared our own operating system, if it turns out that we can no longer use these systems, we will be ready and have our plan B”.
The Chinese manufacturer began working on an Android alternative in early 2012 when relations between the United States and China focused on Huawei and ZTE, and even in 2016 it was in development. However, Huawei has always maintained that they prefer to work with “Google