Huawei Founder Says Company Was Prepared for the U.S. Ban
Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, said on Tuesday that the US government's 90-day extension "doesn't mean much", adding that the company was ready to deal with the ban.
Ren's comments came after the US Commerce Department said on Monday that it gave Huawei a 90-day license to purchase US technologies to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets. That marks a delay of the ban on US technology exports to Huawei.
In an interview with Chinese media in Shenzhen on Tuesday, Ren said that Huawei’s 5G would not be affected and predicted that no other parties would be able to catch up with the company in 5G technology in the next 2-3 years, adding that the U.S. government was underestimating Huawei’s capabilities.
"We will not go through an extreme shortage of supplies. We have made sound preparations," Ren said, adding that the company's employees are working overtime to prepare for such situations.
He also admitted that the US technologies "are still worth learning in both their depth and width. Many small US companies have super-precision products."
Android restrictions
Google announced on Monday that it has restricted Huawei's access to updates of its Android operating system and some mobile services in compliance with US government curbs on the Chinese tech company.
Huawei said in a statement that "as one of Android's key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry.
"We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally," the company said.
A pillar of a possible independent strategy for Huawei was its homegrown app store. But that faces an uncertain future now.
The company introduced this digital hub, called the App Gallery, to phones outside China in early 2018. An app store is worthless without the popular services that smartphone users in most western economies have come to rely on. So Huawei began pitching developers to tailor their existing Android apps for its App Gallery store.
Huawei’s app store strategy is centered on Europe.Guawei reportedly held talks this year with European wireless carriers about installing App Gallery on new devices.
Huawei Mobile Services on May 17 also held the first Developer Day in Europe. The company there also also announced HUAWEI Ability Gallery, bringing intelligent connection between developers and users.
“Huawei Mobile Services are designed to enhance our users' experience by connecting them with the most suitable content for every moment of their daily lives. This is achieved thanks to our intelligent, contextual distribution ecosystem. Partners gain access to Huawei’s fast-growing user base, whilst Huawei manages the editorial and technical optimization of our services.” said Dr. Jaime Gonzalo, Vice President of Europe Mobile Services, Huawei Consumer Business Group.
Huawei offeres a full-range apps distribution solution to developers such as OOBE (Out-of-box experience), AppGallery, AppAdvisor, etc. The company says it covers the entire application experience life cycle, and supports the story-telling of each content provider to a broad user group.
The HUAWEI Ability Gallery is now one of the most important parts in Mobile Services’ ecosystem, serving as a platform that directly promotes services to users by assessing the users intent and actively recommending the matching “abilities”. Once integrated, developers’ services can reach multiple touch points across Huawei’s intelligent devices and a wide, global audience, helping them achieve their own growth goals in a lower integration cost.
Huawei also provides its partners with open capabilities including HMS core, HiAI, AR and Camera Kit, etc. to engage their digital innovations based on Mobile Services platform, provide intelligent one-stop services for developers and partners.