Google Suspended Huawei's access to Android, Gmail and Google Play

Google has suspended business operations with Huawei, and that's because they were included in the blacklist published by the US Department of Commerce according to AndroidAuthority and Reuters.

After the inclusion of Huawei in the blacklist Google is required to suspend its operations involving the transfer of hardware and software.

What does this mean for Huawei and Huawei’s phone users?

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd will immediately lose access to the Android operating system including the next version to be developed for smartphones sold outside China. Huawei lost access to popular apps like Google Play Store services and Gmail

ZTE was also on the same list in 2018, but at one point they managed to solve their problems and get in touch again with US officials. In the case of Huawei, I am slightly skeptical because we are talking about a fierce battle between the US and China at the commercial level and there are already more problems related to the arrest of Huawei officials through Canada, etc.

Theoretically, Huawei can not develop on the Android operating system, not even security patches could be offered from now on. I think they expected such a measure, as a few weeks ago they said they were preparing for six years for not having access to Android and had a secretly-developed mobile operating system.

The news is still in development and we need to wait a bit to find out what Huawei is saying on this topic, Google's clearer position, and so on. Good news is not in any way, perhaps only for Huawei's competition. Even Google does not think it's too happy as Huawei is the second player in the Android smartphone market.

What can Huawei do? Can they develop an operating system on their own?

The fact that Huawei could remain without access to Android and related applications would have been taken into account by the Chinese company as part of the worst possible scenario, so a secretly developed operating system does not seem a fancy hypothesis at all . Now I do not know how advanced they are with this but EMUI is an interface that rather resembles iOS and less with Android, and its porting is not something out of the ordinary.

Until now, Huawei's mobile phone division has succeeded with impressing phone designs, camera and video, connectivity, autonomy, etc. They are among the few hardware & the software developers (when I say hardware I refer to the CPU GPU assembly) competing directly with Samsung and Apple from this position (please, understand that Huawei and Samsung customize Android extensively).

By the way, I do not know if you remember, but Google and Samsung had all kinds of discussions, and Samsung developed Tizen OS, which eventually left it to smartwatches and TVs only. Google was so upset that it bought Motorola, but the deal with Samsung has made the South Korean company quit Tizen OS on its smartphones, and Google to move Motorola's hot pot to Lenovo.

Even Microsoft has put all its resources into developing a mobile operating system that has public access, has made partnerships with most companies in the market, bought Nokia, but has not yet come out. And we're talking about a company that has Windows and a whole suite of services and applications developed, a huge giant know-how.

I am sure that if Huawei does not reach an agreement with the US Department of Commerce, they will launch their own operating system. Currently, I do not see them have a relevant software experience, they have developed Lite OS for smartwatches, but it does not compare to the complexity of a scalable operating system. They have EMUI, but the core is built on Android. Android means access to a store with millions of apps and games, access to Gmail, Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube - leading applications on their niche.

It is too early to draw conclusions and I would say that I rather agree with the US than to develop my own operating system. Moving Huawei to the blacklist is part of a ping-pong developed commercially between the US and China. I would not be surprised to try to force their boycott in the partner countries as well.

I would see Huawei in the position to build an Android-based custom ROM, but I do not know how happy Google will be about it. Theoretically, Android is under open source license and anyone has access to modify it. In fact, Google does not even allow anyone to change key items without its consent. An Android-based custom ROM would make it easier for you to access applications and games on Google Play, a key element on an operating system.

In fact, the question is not right. The right question would be: Does Huawei have the power to cover Google applications and services so that a user does not feel it lacking?

We’ll wait and see, but one thing is for sure, what will come will be very, very interesting.