This morning news broke that Google had, under pressure from the US government, revoked Huawei’s Android licence. This means future phones won’t be able to use Google’s software, including its mobile operating system and the numerous Google-made apps that run on it, like Gmail, Calendar, Docs and the like. Now the Chinese device maker has issued a statement reassuring existing Huawei customers that their devices will continue to receive support.
In its media statement issued on Monday morning, Huawei says it “[W]ill continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally”.
That’s reassuring if you’ve just taken out a shiny new contract with a Huawei device, but it’s unclear how this will work. We’ll bring you more information as we have it.
“We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally,” the company continues, adding that it has “made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world”, and that “as one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry”.
Huawei’s made no secret of the fact it’s been developing its own operating systems (for mobile and desktop devices) in recent years, but even with a proprietary operating system, not having access to Google’s key apps could be crippling in markets outside of China, where many of those services are essential to smartphone user’s digital lives.
