Huawei is trademarking its mobile OS, Hongmeng, in several countries following Android ban

When things are going your way, it still helps to have a backup plan. That seem to be Huawei’s attitude to the ongoing China-America trade wars, which have wound up with the Chinese company on the so-called Entity List. And now that Plan B is looking more and more like a thing, the company has begun trademarking its Hongmeng mobile operating system around the world.

Prepare for (trade) war

Reuters reports that Huawei is busy trademarking its mobile OS replacement, known as ‘Hongmeng’, in several countries. The most recent country is Peru, though the company is said to have begun trademark proceedings in some nine countries, including parts of Europe. It’s possible the Hongmeng OS might also be known under the name Ark OS — which might be a little easier for Western minds to wrap themselves around. Also, something about floods and new starts and the like, yes?

If you recall, there was talk of Huawei having replacement operating systems for both Windows and Android, just in case it ever lost access to the American-made software it currently relies on. The most recent mention of these operating systems dates back to March this year, a short while before the company was told it’d be losing access to Google (and later Facebook’s) software. Which seems, in hindsight, convenient to mention in light of current events.

Specific details of the operating system are thin on the ground, however. Besides its name, we know that Huawei wants to use Hongmeng for smartphones, PCs, robotic equipment, and even in-car screens. That’s quite a list, and it’ll take quite a robust OS to cover them all. Whether Huawei is the company to build that OS is up for debate. In our experience, its in-house software tends to be light on features.

Still, if Hongmeng (or Ark OS) does turn up, we’ll give it a shot. Even if Huawei has its work cut out cracking the Windows/Android/iOS formula. It may be a while yet, though. The company is said to be treating an OS rollout as a last-ditch effort, in case things with the US cannot be resolved at all.

Source: Reuters