Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled long-awaited details of its HarmonyOS software, an operating system attempt targeting a central role in a consumer electronics market dominated by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
HarmonyOS has been designed to work across smartphones, appliances and other hardware, combining the capabilities of all connected gadgets for what Huawei calls “super device” utility. The company demonstrated multi-device functionality as part of its HarmonyOS showcase and said it plans to build its new platform into a hub that connects a wide spectrum of hardware from earbuds to smart cars.
The Shenzhen-based telecom gear maker is looking to the so-called Internet of Things as a path to competing with Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Development of HarmonyOS dates back to 2016, but was accelerated after Washington blacklisted Huawei, cutting it off from essential mobile chipsets and key Google services. With Android and iOS already entrenched in their dominance over the smartphone landscape, Huawei’s aim is to be best at linking interconnected electronic devices and accessories.
The Harmony project is Huawei’s big bet in the consumer market. Worldwide demand for smart home devices, such as smart speakers, video entertainment products, and smart locks, is expected to balloon in the coming years with China becoming the largest market before 2025, according to research firm IDC.
MacDailyNews Take: Aptly named, as Huawei’s yet-another-Android-fork likely siphons your personal data – including video and audio from inside your home – and sings it back to the Chinese Communist Party in perfect harmony.
The CCP will probably force its captive citizens to buy HarmonyOS crap, but anybody who’d shackled themselves with it willingly would have to be – yup, you got it – batshit insane.
Huawei should be blacklisted for blatantly ripping off the iPad Pro (“MatePad Pro”), iPadOS (“Harmony OS”), and Apple Pencil (“M-Pencil”). Rolled my eyes and shook my head after I saw the screenshots this morning.
They have good teachers in Google and Samsung, and as a bonus all of the java code was copied verbatim from Google by way of Oracle….
It’s called “Open Source” for a reason.
This is the perfect environment for AppleSinnic.
” . . . the so-called Internet of Things as a path to competing with Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.”
It wasn’t long ago that “the internet of Things” started with the word “Windows”.
And for a few of us here, it wasn’t that far back in which the “computer centric” conversations started with “IBM”
My, how the mighty have fallen!
And how the mighty will fall.
There is a real need for a better OS, especially in terms of user interface. But I don’t see much hope of it emerging from here.
Given Huawei’s record, methinks its ‘HarmonyOS’ won’t steal market share from iOS and Android, except maybe in China, where it will be heavily promoted by the PRC for internal security reasons.
It will replace Google in the third world…