Let us Play: Smartphone brand Honor lets slip it has gained access to Google Mobile Services licences
- Reference: 1621873030
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/24/honor_gms_tweet/
- Source link:
The news came from Honor’s German arm. A [2]since-deleted tweet [3]confirmed the firm’s upcoming Honor 50 smartphone series would carry the proprietary Google Android apps. It seems likely the public announcement went out before HQ made it official.
GMS is a collection of APIs and apps that run upon the base Android operating system. These include Google Play, Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Search.
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[5]
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While the Chocolate Factory doesn’t charge vendors for the software, it is nevertheless distributed under strict licensing requirements designed to prioritize Google’s own products, thus bringing in search and download revenue.
Because of this transactional nature (whereas the Android Open Source Project is freely available to anyone), Google was prevented from issuing licenses to Honor during part of the period when it was a subsidiary of Huawei. As a result, Huawei's [7]shipments dropped dramatically in areas where Android is inextricably linked with Google, namely Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The Huawei smartphone brand currently ships with its own App AppGallery.
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Huawei infamously fell afoul of US sanctions in May 2019, preventing it from acquiring technology or software from American suppliers, including Google, which announced it was [9]pulling services from the Huawei's mobiles later that month .
[10]Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy: Run Huawei, Google Play, turns away, from Huawei... turns away
[11]Unihertz Titan Pocket: Like asking Mum for a BlackBerry and she tells you 'but we've got a BlackBerry at home'
[12]iFixit slams Samsung's phone 'upcycling' scheme for falling short of what was promised
[13]As another vendor promises 3 years of Android updates, we ask: How long should mobile devices receive support?
Additionally, Huawei’s presence on a Treasury Department entity list limited its ability to tap the wider international supply chain. Foreign suppliers were [14]prohibited from selling components with partial US origins to Huawei, which hamstrung [15]its ability to source semiconductors and memory devices .
In the face of declining handset sales, Huawei sold Honor to a consortium of dealers and state-owned enterprises last November for an undisclosed price.
The newly independent entity has since [16]rebuilt its supply chain , inking deals with Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft, to list but a few, as it prepares to re-assert itself beyond mainland China.
Last week, the company announced two new [17]professional-oriented laptops for the Western Market , suggesting this process is gathering pace.
[18]
The Register has asked Honor for comment and a company representative told us to expect a statement.
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/17/huawei_sells_lowend_honor_handset_unit/
[2] https://twitter.com/NickNyan2/status/1396576484161110018
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/05/24/screen_grab_honor_de.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKwiAJUGtVYCE-@cWt2GFQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKwiAJUGtVYCE-@cWt2GFQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKwiAJUGtVYCE-@cWt2GFQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/10/come_sail_huawei_chinese_bogeyman/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKwiAJUGtVYCE-@cWt2GFQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/20/google_pulls_play_and_other_services_from_huawei/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/20/google_pulls_play_and_other_services_from_huawei/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/20/unihertz_titan_pocket/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/ifixit_samsung_upcyling/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/10/vivo_android_support/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/16/huawei_chip_ban_latest/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/16/tsmc_huawei_chips/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/22/honor_first_phone_independent/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/honor_magicbook_14_15/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKwiAJUGtVYCE-@cWt2GFQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Hmmm
In a normal administration the president isn't the one making calls like that, it is one or more departments under him that make such decisions. So I doubt he will be involved in the decision, unless an executive order is required to enforce it in which case he'd very likely go along with their recommendation.
I think Trump has colored some people's ideas of just how much micromanaging little things and ignoring big things a president should engage in.
On the face of it, it does seem pretty silly that a company that had sanctions against it (ignoring for the moment how appropriate one may think those sanctions are) can avoid them by spinning off a subsidiary that is purchased by a group of investors led by the Chinese government, and claiming it is somehow different than Huawei.
Re: micromanaging little things and ignoring big things
Oh, you mean totally ignoring a world-wide pandemic but making sure everyon knows you order at McDonalds ?
Trump didn't manage anything. He just barked randomely and expected the underlings to solve all the problems.
Re: Hmmm
>On the face of it, it does seem pretty silly that a company that had sanctions against it (ignoring for the moment how appropriate one may think those sanctions are) can avoid them by spinning off a subsidiary that is purchased by a group of investors led by the Chinese government, and claiming it is somehow different than Huawei.
The sanctions are bureaucratic artifact and this work around is also a bureaucratic artifact. I'd guess that Honor is being ignored because the original sanctions were illogical and were doing harm to both business in the US and the US's image overseas. Having imposed them, though, the government can't just go "Oops, my bad!" and remove them so there has to be some kind of alternative.
I'd guess the sanctions imposed unilaterally on Iran over the nuclear deal are in the same category. We can't just un-impose them, that would look like losing, so we're stuck with finding a way to justify un-imposing them as some kind of win for the US. (Like Huawei, the situation is complicated by there being plenty of 'hawks' who are pushing for even more sanctions.....government is never clear cut.)
Hmmm
Presumably Pres. Biden will be involved in any decision whether Honor is a freed hostage or a dangerous gangster on the run from US regulatory justice. (In corporate terms of course).
If the former expect the GMS licenses to be revoked forthwith.