Goodbye to the Huawei Empire?
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Google has been relentless in its decision to prevent Huawei from accessing Android updates. Trump's war has reached another level
After Huawei was included in a blacklist of companies with which US companies cannot negotiate, Google announced that, following these orders, the Chinese telecommunications giant would not have access to updates to the Android operating system and will restrict access to some of Google's best-known apps.
Leer en español: ¿Adiós al imperio de Huawei?
But Google was not the only company to break relations with Huawei. The main processor manufacturers joined the decision and will not provide more components to the Chinese company. El Tiempo reports that these companies are: Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx Inc, and Broadcom.
In addition to the tariff dispute led by Trump, the accusations for espionage allegedly committed by Huawei are added. The US government has claimed that the Chinese company could be spying on users of its devices to further the interests of the Chinese government.
In fact, in January 2019, according to the BBC, the Polish government accused Wang Weijing – then a company manager – of espionage against Polish interests and asked NATO and the European Union to study whether a trade should be banned. of Huawei devices. The telecommunications company has vehemently defended itself by ensuring that its products do not represent any threat.
The news has surprised the users of these devices, especially because Huawei is the second largest producer of cell phones worldwide. Faced with the blockade, the Chinese giant has issued a statement in which it states that "Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android. As one of its global key partners, we have worked closely with its open source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry. "
The company is not alone and the Chinese government has declared that it supports any company in that country to "defend their legitimate rights." Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government is reviewing Google's decision.
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What does the breaking of relationships mean?
The first thing that needs to be clarified is that in existing cell phones, the services of Google and Google Play will continue to work. The applications may continue to be updated, but in the event that a new version of Android went on the market, Huawei phones could not access that version.
In statements collected by Reuters, a representative of the American company said that "for the users of our services, Google Play and the security protections of Google Play Protect will continue to work on existing Huawei devices".
Additionally, Huawei will not lose access to the system in its entirety. "Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to access Google-owned applications and services", explains the same source. This way, Huawei users will lose access to Google applications such as YouTube, as well as collaboration and technical support directly from the US company.
The users fear what will happen to their smartphones once there is a new update of this system. However, according to a letter collected by the Chinese media Caixin, the company would have a contingency plan. He Tingbo, president of HiSilicon, says that Huawei has worked for years to survive in extreme conditions and that this plan could be activated overnight.
Although in the short and medium term the decision will affect Huawei, in the long term the measure would be detrimental to Google. This is due to the fact that new alternatives will be sought for the development of operating and technological systems.
LatinAmerican Post | Marcela Peñaloza
Translated from "¿Adiós al imperio de Huawei?"
