14 DAY TRIAL // While Huawei hoped it would be allowed to use Android and Google’s apps on its smartphones at some point in the future, the company’s nightmare doesn’t seem to come to an end too soon.
United States President Donald Trump has recently announced that the executive order which lists Huawei and ZTE Corp. as entities that are banned from using products developed by American companies now has a new expiration date.
More specifically, all companies added to this list are now banned until May 2021, which means the US President has extended the executive order for another year.
Huawei was banned in May 2019 from working with American companies and using their products amid concerns that the tech giant could have ties with the Beijing government. Due to the sanctions, Huawei couldn’t use the licensed version of Android and Google’s apps on its smartphones.
The same sanction has also applied to laptops that were supposed to run Microsoft’s Windows.
A world without Google
In the meantime, however, Huawei has invested aggressively in a series of alternatives, including a custom version of Android based on the free version shipped by Google, but also replacements for Google’s apps.
One particular project that advanced well is a Huawei app store, as the tech giant is pressuring developers to bring their apps here in order to also be offered to its users. Furthermore, the company has been exploring several ideas, including pre-loading a series of app on its devices in order to provide users with the essential package from the very beginning.
Huawei’s executives said on several occasions that they hope the sanctions would be lifted and be allowed to use Android once again. However, the company is still preparing for plan B, which essentially means the company wants to survive without Google and its apps in the long term.