Developer beta for Huawei's Google-free HarmonyOS is here – but you may need to Google Translate the docs

Huawei has launched the first developer preview of its in-house smartphone operating system, HarmonyOS 2.0. The software (which started life as an IoT operating system with a commercial debut on a smart TV, hence the 2.0) is supposed to serve as Huawei's insurance policy against losing access to the Google-made Android mobile …

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

This could go either way. It may well be a footnote in history. But it could end up that Trump fired the gun which holed Android and sank the global American tech hegemony.

[AIBailey]

Absolutely.

I don't know what Huawei's plans are for HarmonyOS, but if they licence it freely to other manufacturers then it might gain traction.

OTOH, with AOSP also available, HarmonyOS may well end up as just another minor OS of interest with a tiny market share compared to Android (See Fire OS, Tizen, Sailfish OS etc.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you. As an American I believe it is to China's favorite to develop their own OS, regardless of which thanks to the global attention. I can't reassure it's Trump's fault, as I really do believe it was inevitable (he most certainly sped it along), but once China has something then Android, iOS, Windows Mobile (too soon?) will no longer be able to sleep in their thrones.

Turning from the topic a bit, in hardware China is making in-roads on x86 "compatibility" for alternatives CPU's and are already selling "spec" x86 CPU hardware. Cloned or not, more and more Chinese designed and made hardware is out there. At some point, China will have it's own I.B.M., but I do wonder who will try to stop that being it now seems impossible to stop.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Even if a truly excellent alternative to Android existed, history suggests the world would carry on using Android. (Look at that list of failed mobile OSes. Or look at the desktop and Windows.) Android has inertia.

And, as an app developer, two OSes are fine, thank you very much. If you're gonna faff around with another OS then I'm going to wait till it's an established platform with a clear pool of users safe in the knowledge that (1) you won't go all in but will also offer other android devices; and (2) that users will likely recoil from the non-android devices, even if they're cheaper, because they won't have all their apps; and that (3) every non tier-1 developer is likely to make the same calculation so I know I won't miss the boat.

Government intervention in the market changes that equation. This goes two ways: either Huawei collapses as a mobile manufacturer or they make it work. And, as a dev, I can see that straight away so I'm already paying more attention than I would if it was another upstart nerd fantasy. Even if China banned Android in China, they'd probably still be selling Android in the west and it would take a good while for China-OS to make inroads. But if Biden keeps up the pressure on Huawei, they have no choice but to make it work. And if they're succeeding, and play their cards right, other manufacturers might join them and try and throw off the Google yoke.

[needmorehare]

Android has one thing the others don't

Backwards compatibility. If your apps don't "just work" pretty much forever, then it's game over. That's why Windows has majority marketshare and so does Android. History demonstrates this well. Windows Phone was on track to do very well, until Microsoft broke compatibility not once, not twice but three times over a very short period of time.

If a decent alternative operating system pops up with transparent app support and objectively superior performance/features, it will win long-term.

[DS999]

HarmonyOS runs Android apps

So it is hard to see how choosing it makes any difference versus AOSP Android from an OEM perspective. For all I know, it may mostly be AOSP Android under the hood with Huawei's GUI layered on top - that would be the easiest way to gain Android app compatibility.

So I don't think this will make much of a difference, let alone presage any difficulties for Google. After all virtually no phones sold in China are running Google's flavor of Android. They are essentially all AOSP Android with Google's bits replaced with Chinese app stores, Baidu Search/Maps, WeChat, and so forth. Google never had the Chinese smartphone market in the first place.

[J27]

Re: HarmonyOS runs Android apps

"HarmonyOS" basically is just an Android skin without Google's proprietary apps. I'm not sure why it's getting so much coverage. It's just one of a hundred Android forks in use in China.

[Doctor Syntax]

I look forward to a review comparing it with Android as to the amount of data sent to the mother-ships.

[Barry Rueger]

I won't miss Android

Let's be honest, the list of reasons why Android sucks is lengthy, and grows with every version. And that's true even if you ignore the whole "Google is Evil" thing.

I'm happy to see any serious challenger, and am sure that Huawei is a company that could pull it off.

[Anonymous Coward]

This Could Get Confusing In Future...

Having just bought a Harmony remote control system!

[Dan 55]

Re: This Could Get Confusing In Future...

It's a race to see which one will have official support dropped first.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's ok to have other players

I think it's beneficial to consumers to have more than ios and android. My main concern is that, privacy is not addressed in any of the mobile OS beyond hyperboled marketing speak.