Huawei might have a Google alternative that will be incorporated into its smartphones that will release in the future.
According to one of the Chinese technology giant executives, Huawei has substitutes for Google apps, such as mail, messaging, maps, and payments, as well as other basic services, that will be ready to be used soon.
This statement comes after a claim from last week about the forthcoming flagship, the Huawei P40, which is scheduled for release in March 2020 and will pack the company’s Google replacements. Nothing has, however, been confirmed by the company, but rumors are plenty ahead of the next year’s product releases.
More Rapid-Functioning Google Alternative
The most recent claims come from Huawei’s consumer chief in India, Charles Peng, who allegedly said that “we have our own HMS and are trying to build a mobile ecosystem. Most of the key apps, such as navigation, payments, gaming, and messaging, will be ready soon.”
As per the Economic Times, the company, together with its closely-related brand Honor, has partnered with India’s app developers to spend amounts of money from its $1 billion fighting funds to develop Google-looking apps onto the HMS alternative.
“We are focusing on how to work with developers to offer a good customer experience,” Peng said. “It is a challenge that we are trying to address.”
Peng has also said that the wide Indian developer base, together with the Chinese alternatives, will help Huawei provide its smartphone users with its HMS equivalent in other areas as well, such as Europe.
“In every country,” Peng explained, “we will focus on bringing the top 100-150 apps to customers through HMS—we will create an end-to-end business model with developers, content, and service providers.”
This is an important test for the company. The absence of Google has become the prime example for U.S. bans against Huawei, and with no sustainable alternative, it cannot race in the non-Chinese market where clients want the complete Android experience.
Will it be a Third-Time Charm?
Last week, Huawei’s global smartphone chief, Richard Yu, told French media that the upcoming P40 will be released at the end of March 2020. The executive also reported that the Huawei P40 will be a success even without Google, as it will bridge the gap left by the lack of Google with the company’s own equivalents. As per the French media, this meant a full-scale Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) with a set of alternative applications.
What specifically this means, we will find out in the following weeks. After the ban issued by the U.S. government back in May, Yu announced the release of an in-house Huawei operating system for the company’s mobile phones, which will either come this year or in early 2020.
The new OS would operate the Google apps, but at increased speeds. However, this hasn’t happened yet, not even with the company’s Mate 30 that launched in September. With that being said, the most recent claims are similar to those that appeared around the Huawei P40 release.
