Huawei courts more developers in app rivalry with Google, Apple

MANILA -- Huawei called on developers to join its growing app marketplace, present in some 400 million devices, as it released its second premium smartphone with its own mobile services front and center.

AppGallery, available in 170 countries and with 1.3 million developers on board is the third biggest app store and Huawei recently offered $1 billion in incentives to catch up with Google and Apple.

Like the Mate 30 series from the last quarter if 2019, the P40 series which launched last March ships with Android, running on Huawei Mobile Services instead of its Google counterpart.

"We warmly welcome every app developer worldwide to joint the Huawei Mobile Services ecosystem to bring the best experience to Huawei users," Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu said during the P40 series virtual launch.

Notwithstanding the US sales ban, Huawei in 2019 shipped 240 million smartphones worldwide, said Yanmin Wang, President of Eco-partnership and Eco-development.

"That big customer base will enable us to develop a new mobile ecosystem," Wang said. "To create a new mobile ecosystem, we must have the new tech new approach."


FOCUS ON SECURITY

The AppGallery is built with a focus on security as apps have access to users' personal data and passwords, even bank information and fingerprints, said Wang during a recent developers' conference.

"All this personal data can be very risky," Wang sand. "Customers want a reliable, secure mobile ecosystem."

Developers need to authenticate with their real names before their app is released to prevent fake accounts that push out apps with malware. This also makes it easier for Huawei to monitor and ban developers when necessary, the company said.

During download, 4 layers of security are in place to protect user data, Huawei said. The platform can detect malicious behavior including eavesdropping and taking screenshots without consent, it said.

"By combining the intelligent detection methods and manual real-name authentication, AppGallery provides full-fledged coverage for users against most conceivable threats," Huawei said.

80 APPS PER DEVICE

Developers should build apps that encourage user engagement, said Jaime Gonzalo, Vice President of Huawei Mobile Services.

The average user has 80 apps on his or her device and the number can swell to 100 in developed countries, he said.

Android, the world's biggest mobile operating system, has 2.9 million apps, with 6,000 more added daily. Half of the world's mobile users download zero apps per month. A quarter of mobile users install less than 2 apps per month, he said.

"Users are very hard to acquire and very easy to lose," Gonzalo told developers.

The AppGallery is going "glocal" by ensuring that popular apps in a certain region are available on the platform. Agoda, for example, is the choice of the Asian market while Booking.com is for Europe, he said.

In the Philippine, AppGallery has grown its offerings. Dance video sharing app TikTok was the top download at the start of the Luzon lockdown. It also offers e-wallet apps PayMaya and GCash, offering millions on quarantine the opportunity to transact cashless.

Other popular apps on AppGallery include: Booking.com, Lazada, Camera 360, Lazada-Online Shopping & Deals, Shopee, SHAREit, Viber Messenger, SnapChat, BDO Personal Banking, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Globe Rewards, Speed Test, WeChat, Klook, WeSing, PhotoGrid, Philippine Airlines, CLiQQby7-Eleven, Booky, iFlix, WPS, MetroBank, Union Bank Online, SSS, Viu, Trivago, Traveloka, Wattpad, Eastwest Bank, Meralco, Canva and AliExpress.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Huawei courts app developers with $1-billion incentives

MUNICH -- Huawei will continue offering open-source Android on “outstanding hardware,” while encouraging developers with $1 billion (P52 billion) in incentives to build apps for its own platform, an official said.

The world’s second largest smartphone vendor is adopting a 3-point strategy: hardware, Huawei Mobile Services or HMS and EMUI, the Android version that runs on half a billion active devices, said Jervis Su, vice president for consumer mobile services of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group.

There are no “specific” plans yet to roll out Huawei’s own operating system, Harmony, Su said when asked when the first Harmony smartphone will be released.

The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, unveiled here on Thursday, run on Android 10 and Huawei's EMUI 10. The devices will not ship with Google services out of the box due to a sales ban installed by US President Donald Trump.

“Huawei is in a position to provide outstanding hardware. We believe we can provide great services to the users and that is the most important thing for us,” Su said.

Like the Mate 30 series, Su said future Huawei devices would launch without Google Mobile Services or GMS. Current devices “will not be useless” and will continue to run GMS, he said.

“Will the situation change in the future? That is probably a question for President Trump,” he said.

Huawei said it was offering up to $1 billion in incentives to developers to create apps for its devices.

There are 1 million registered developers for Huawei Mobile Services, which can cater to 570 million active Huawei device owners in 170 countries, Su said.

“We have to work together with our partners,” Su told reporters here. “HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) is the platform, the partner will provide to the consumer.”

When translated to Chinese, the word crisis is spelled with two characters, the second of which means “opportunity,” Su said. “Whenever there is a crisis, it means opportunity for us.”

User demand will determine which apps will be available on the Huawei app store, Su said. Of the 1 million apps on offer, 10,000 are considered “frequently used,” he said.

“Regarding the download of apps, users can find other ways to download apps, for example, from webpages,” he said.

Huawei’s App Gallery, where users can download third-party applications has 390 million monthly active users, Su said. There are tens of millions of users for its proprietary apps, 200 million for Browser, 160 million for Cloud, 160 million for Music, 140 million for Assistant, 130 million for video and 70 million for themes.

Software developers and app developers, especially in the Asia-Pacific are “adapting” to Huawei’s predicament, Su said.

“The Mate 30 is facing an entirely new situation we have never seen before. In the wake of this situation, developers adapt to the current situation,” he said.

“We can only address the change,” he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com