Huawei Technologies Co unveiled its much-anticipated in-house operating system Harmony OS on Friday, marking what some call the Chinese tech giant's biggest push yet to build its own software ecosystem for the era of the internet of things.
The move is also expected to mitigate the influence of the United States government's restrictions on Huawei using Google's Android operating system in smartphones, analysts said.
Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, speaking in Dongguan, Guangdong province, said it is difficult to deliver a smooth experience across different devices with the huge amount of codes involved in the Android and Linux operating systems. Linux is an open-source operating system widely used in personal computers and other hardware.
The new OS featuring low latency and high security is designed to meet those needs, supporting all future Internet of Things or IoT devices, the company said. It will first be used in wearable devices, smart screens, in-vehicle systems and smart speakers.
The senior executive said Harmony can be used in its smartphones. But Android is still Huawei's preferred choice for handsets if the company is allowed to use it.
Migrating from Android to HarmonyOS, Yu said, would only take a few days. The operating system will support a variety of app languages, including Android, Linux and HTML5. Yu also revealed that HarmonyOS, like Android, will be open source. That means developers can take HarmonyOS and modify it for their hardware, a feature which has formed the foundation of Android's success.
