Beijing, China (AFP) — Chinese telecom giant Huawei says it could roll out its own operating system for smartphones and laptops in China by the autumn after the United States blacklisted the company, a report said Thursday.
The international version of the system could be ready in the first or second quarter of 2020, said Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business, told US channel CNBC.
The company was dealt a blow this week with Google’s decision to partially cut off Huawei devices from its Android OS following a US order banning the sale or transfer of American technology to the firm.
“Today, Huawei, we are still committed to Microsoft Windows and Google Android,” Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business, told CNBC. “But if we cannot use that, Huawei will prepare the plan B to use our own OS.”
The Global Times, a Chinese state-run daily, reported on Monday that the platform — named “HongMeng” — was undergoing trials and will gradually replace the Android system.
“We don’t want to do this but we will forced to do that because of the US government. I think the US, this kind of thing, will also not only be bad news for us, but also bad news for the US companies because we support” US businesses, Yu told CNBC. “We don’t want to do this but we have no other solution, no other choice.”
The US Commerce Department, which added Huawei and 68 of its affiliates to an “entity list” last week, on Monday announced a 90-day reprieve, allowing some services to continue.
rwm/lth/dan
© Agence France-Presse
