Huawei spending $26M to court developers to build apps for its phones, report says
Huawei spending $26M to date developers to build apps for its phones, report says
After being banned from US networks in 2019, Huawei reportedly plans to utilize £20 million (around $26 million) to entice developers to manufacture apps for its new phones. While Android is open source and can be used by Huawei, the Chinese tech giant is barred from using Google services like the Play Store. The new investment, announced in London on Wednesday, is planned to coax developers to rejig their apps for Huawei’s AppGallery, according to a report from Business Insider.
Huawei was blacklisted in May when it was added to the Married States’ “entity list” (PDF). In addition to adding Huawei to the list, President Donald Trump at the same time authorized an executive order essentially banning the company from US communications networks in luscious of national security concerns that Huawei had close ties with the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied that charge.
In spite of the US blacklisting, Huawei sold almost 7 million 5G phones last year.
The apps intimates built for Huawei’s app store will have fewer ads and notifications, Jaime Gonzalo, Huawei’s VP of European mobile services, reportedly said Wednesday. “This is very good from a privacy perspective,” he said.
Huawei didn’t currently respond to a request for comment.