22 ms·

The difference between Huawei's situation and Microsoft's situation is that Microsoft's app store is not compatible with Android or IOS (obviously, different OS

by yskchu 7y ago

The difference between Huawei's situation and Microsoft's situation is that Microsoft's app store is not compatible with Android or IOS (obviously, different OS) While if Huawei uses the Android open source base, the only thing they have to do is entice developers to submit another copy of their app to their store, which is a much lower barrier than the one MS faced to develop a whole new ecosystem

ghobs91 7y ago
While true, this is also the case for Amazon's app store, and their app selection is a fraction of the Play store to this day.
morpheuskafka 7y ago
Not if that app depends on Google Play Services, which most developers targeting "Android" take for granted.
- askvictor 7y ago
  Perhaps Huawei will assist in the development of microg (https://microg.org/ https://microg.org/) - a free (as in freedom) drop-in replacement for Google Play Services.
  - snaky 7y ago
    Huawei will never do that, the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them. But they could develop some kind of their own Play Services, compatible with Google.
    - graton 7y ago
      Huawei contributes to open source projects right now. I know they have been contributing to OpenStack for years and likely other open-source projects. https://www.stackalytics.com/?company=huawei&metric=commits&release=stein https://www.stackalytics.com/?company=huawei&metric=commits&...
    - gecho 7y ago
      "the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them" white people have a way of saying incredibly insulting, demeaning things about non-whites in a way that it is acceptable in common discourse. statement such as these need to be called out for what they are - biased opinions based on an irrational fear of "the chinese"
      - tenpies 7y ago
        > white people have a way of saying incredibly insulting, demeaning things about non-whites in a way that it is acceptable in common discourse How do you even know he or she is white? Why racialize a comment in this manner?
      - briandon 7y ago
        I would not agree with the statement you've quoted either, but can you see that you've posted a comment shot through with the same attitudes that you believe tainted his comment? You've assigned a race to another poster based on your own preconceptions of the attitudes and behaviors of members of that race (kicking off your reply to snaky with "white people have a way of [...]") and lumped all members of a race together (accusing all white people of making derogatory statements regarding other races).
      - Angostura 7y ago
        Odd that you think this is about 'white people' v 'non-white people' rather than about a company's culture. I see to recall very robust discussions about Microsoft et al's position on open source without race getting dragged into it.
    - kristianc 7y ago
      > Huawei will never do that, the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them. The Shenzhen ecosystem has taken the idea of 'Open' and 'Open Source' further than perhaps anywhere else in the world. Huawei the company is built on that kind of information sharing. I highly doubt it's alien to Huawei. [1] https://www.szoil.org/ https://www.szoil.org/ [2] https://convidera.com/article/shenzhen-chinas-ecosystem-for-open-source-innovation https://convidera.com/article/shenzhen-chinas-ecosystem-for-...
  - morpheuskafka 7y ago
    There's going to need to be a mechanism for in-app purchases and a substitute for SafetyNet as well.
- jmkni 7y ago
  I guess they could provide their own implementations of the Google Play Services API's?
  - niutech 7y ago
    It's already done: https://microg.org https://microg.org
ETHisso2017 7y ago
The barrier would be that many Android apps also leverage Google's in-built services, which would be unavailable on the upcoming generation of Huawei phones. The question then becomes to what degree could someone replicate those services, and how quickly.
- Juha 7y ago
  One thing to note is that the whole Chinese Android ecosystem currently works without those Google services or Play Store. It's still challenging to push system without Google globally, but at least they have experience with that locally in China.
  - ETHisso2017 7y ago
    How do they replicate the functionality that Google Services provide? And could they bring that functionality to the rest of the world?
    - LadyNike 7y ago
      It's just very different. For example, there are a ton of SDKs that provide push notifications, such as Baidu, Tencent, etc... There are also "super apps", such as WeChat, that offer their own API surface and can be preferable to some app devs. Then there are some things, such as "advertising id", which none of these SDKs provide (at the moment?). So yeah, the answer is somewhere between "it's complicated" and "no one".
    - nickonline 7y ago
      They use massive mega apps e.g. WeChat
- niutech 7y ago
  There is already microG: https://microg.org https://microg.org
platform 7y ago
Well, if Huawei would say a) here is our store b) your app will be marketed to Chinese population (as long as your backend servers run on Chinese infra) then, I think they have a chance to attract app developers. Otherwise, I doubt it.
- srcmap 7y ago
  For Chinese market, Huawei don't have anything to worry about. It is likely gain more "Chinese" market share from this. For the rest of the world, it would be completely different story. It is hard to imagine Huawei won't loss huge market share from the EU and rest of the world without Google's Play Store.

by yskchu 7y ago

ghobs91 7y ago

While true, this is also the case for Amazon's app store, and their app selection is a fraction of the Play store to this day.

morpheuskafka 7y ago

Not if that app depends on Google Play Services, which most developers targeting "Android" take for granted.

askvictor 7y ago
Perhaps Huawei will assist in the development of microg (https://microg.org/ https://microg.org/) - a free (as in freedom) drop-in replacement for Google Play Services.
- snaky 7y ago
  Huawei will never do that, the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them. But they could develop some kind of their own Play Services, compatible with Google.
  - graton 7y ago
    Huawei contributes to open source projects right now. I know they have been contributing to OpenStack for years and likely other open-source projects. https://www.stackalytics.com/?company=huawei&metric=commits&release=stein https://www.stackalytics.com/?company=huawei&metric=commits&...
  - gecho 7y ago
    "the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them" white people have a way of saying incredibly insulting, demeaning things about non-whites in a way that it is acceptable in common discourse. statement such as these need to be called out for what they are - biased opinions based on an irrational fear of "the chinese"
    - tenpies 7y ago
      > white people have a way of saying incredibly insulting, demeaning things about non-whites in a way that it is acceptable in common discourse How do you even know he or she is white? Why racialize a comment in this manner?
    - briandon 7y ago
      I would not agree with the statement you've quoted either, but can you see that you've posted a comment shot through with the same attitudes that you believe tainted his comment? You've assigned a race to another poster based on your own preconceptions of the attitudes and behaviors of members of that race (kicking off your reply to snaky with "white people have a way of [...]") and lumped all members of a race together (accusing all white people of making derogatory statements regarding other races).
    - Angostura 7y ago
      Odd that you think this is about 'white people' v 'non-white people' rather than about a company's culture. I see to recall very robust discussions about Microsoft et al's position on open source without race getting dragged into it.
  - kristianc 7y ago
    > Huawei will never do that, the very concept of free or open-source is absolutely alien to them. The Shenzhen ecosystem has taken the idea of 'Open' and 'Open Source' further than perhaps anywhere else in the world. Huawei the company is built on that kind of information sharing. I highly doubt it's alien to Huawei. [1] https://www.szoil.org/ https://www.szoil.org/ [2] https://convidera.com/article/shenzhen-chinas-ecosystem-for-open-source-innovation https://convidera.com/article/shenzhen-chinas-ecosystem-for-...
- morpheuskafka 7y ago
  There's going to need to be a mechanism for in-app purchases and a substitute for SafetyNet as well.
jmkni 7y ago
I guess they could provide their own implementations of the Google Play Services API's?
- niutech 7y ago
  It's already done: https://microg.org https://microg.org

ETHisso2017 7y ago

The barrier would be that many Android apps also leverage Google's in-built services, which would be unavailable on the upcoming generation of Huawei phones. The question then becomes to what degree could someone replicate those services, and how quickly.

Juha 7y ago
One thing to note is that the whole Chinese Android ecosystem currently works without those Google services or Play Store. It's still challenging to push system without Google globally, but at least they have experience with that locally in China.
- ETHisso2017 7y ago
  How do they replicate the functionality that Google Services provide? And could they bring that functionality to the rest of the world?
  - LadyNike 7y ago
    It's just very different. For example, there are a ton of SDKs that provide push notifications, such as Baidu, Tencent, etc... There are also "super apps", such as WeChat, that offer their own API surface and can be preferable to some app devs. Then there are some things, such as "advertising id", which none of these SDKs provide (at the moment?). So yeah, the answer is somewhere between "it's complicated" and "no one".
  - nickonline 7y ago
    They use massive mega apps e.g. WeChat
niutech 7y ago
There is already microG: https://microg.org https://microg.org

platform 7y ago

Well, if Huawei would say a) here is our store b) your app will be marketed to Chinese population (as long as your backend servers run on Chinese infra) then, I think they have a chance to attract app developers. Otherwise, I doubt it.

srcmap 7y ago
For Chinese market, Huawei don't have anything to worry about. It is likely gain more "Chinese" market share from this. For the rest of the world, it would be completely different story. It is hard to imagine Huawei won't loss huge market share from the EU and rest of the world without Google's Play Store.