Since the middle of May 2019, Huawei has been effectively cut off from Google. Huawei is banned from accessing Google mobile services and Google play services for Android. All the Google apps like Google Maps, Play Store, Gmail, Drive and several other products cannot be used. This is no big deal in China where most of the Google apps are banned however Huawei's international sales have suffered due to the inability of phones to run Google-based apps.
On 17 January 2020, Huawei signed a deal with Dutch navigation and digital mapping company TomTom. This deal enabled the use of maps, traffic information and navigation software for developing apps compatible with smartphones. According to Reuters, the deal was confirmed by TomTom spokesman Remco Meerstra and the detail about the deal is not brought to public's ear. Huawei was seeking several alternatives ever since the company was blacklisted by the US from using Google Mobile Services (GMS). Being an open-source system, the Chinese company, however, was able to use Google's Android operating system.
They have already developed the Huawei App Gallery- a platform for applications from first-party and registered developers. Huawei is also most likely to create its own navigation app based on the technologies and software of TomTom. It was also reported that Huawei was building its own Google maps rival called Map Kit.
At present Huawei is applying its best effort so that it won't have to worry about vital functionality provided by Google. Huawei has revealed its own operating system-Harmony OS. According to the company it is designed to work across a variety of devices including tablets, smartphones and IoT gadgets. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also likely to approve the use of Huawei technology in the country's 5G networks. It can be clearly realized that Huawei is creating the elements it needs without Google Services and Android.
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