Originally published at: https://www.mobilitaria.com/huawei-google-ban-restrictions-google-play-store-and-updates/
Huawei Google ban places restrictions on the Chinese company’s access to many of Google’s core Android apps and services, including the Google Play Store, Gmail, Search and Chrome. This essentially bans Huawei from integrating Google software and core apps into any of its future products, limiting the Chinese company to using the public version of Android called Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is a free system that any brand can use as an underlying foundation for its products
The reason for the Huawei Google ban is simply because of the Donald Trump administration Huawei ban. Huawei has found itself at the center of a global tussle between the US and China after Trump administration placed the Chinese brand on the ‘entity list’, limiting the business US companies could do with it, and leading to worldwide implications. It led to Google blocking Huawei’s future access to Android updates for fear of sanctions from the US government.
Existing users of Huawei Android devices can continue to use Google Play app store and will also be able to enjoy security protections delivered through Google Play Protect. Google Play Protect is a built-in malware detector that uses machine learning to detect and weed out rogue apps.
Huawei may have already foreseen this. There is rumour that Huawei began building its own Android-based operating system after a U.S. ban on ZTE in case a future event prevented it from using existing systems. But convincing enough stakeholders to make their apps available on Huawei’s store and continually push updates could prove incredibly challenging.
The loss of the Google Play Store – which for users outside of China is the key source of Android apps – and a lack of Google-made security updates could prove a significant drawback for the prospects of Huawei future phones and tablets.
Without access to the Play Store, Huawei would be forced to work directly with developers to get them to create versions of their wares for its phones. This situation would be similar to that of Amazon’s Fire OS, which is based on AOSP but has its own app store, as the retail giant seeks to control the platform its Fire tablets and Echo devices run on.
If Huawei does have to use AOSP, the consequences could be devastating, as access to a fully-stocked app store is crucial to the success of any modern smartphone – Nokia and Microsoft failed to make Windows Phones a viable alternative to Android and Apple’s iOS, even though both brands poured millions into developer tools and enticing the top app creators onto their platform.