DAILY | EDITION Thursday, August 19, 2021 | 15 BUSINESSFOCUS Creating vibrant ecosystem for HarmonyOS

Huawei aims to develop prosperously. It is a threshold that must attain,” provide a more Wang said. seamless interface He added that it is very important to cultivate a sound ecosystem for linking a wide HarmonyOS in two years. The com- pany has hundreds of millions of range of internet mobile phone users. If they upgrade of things products their systems to Har- monyOS and feel that the experi- ence is good, they will stay with By MA SI Huawei’s products, he said. [email protected] On top of encouraging consum- ers to embrace HarmonyOS, Hua- For Ge Shuai, a 9-year-old student wei is devoting heavy resources to learning how to develop a software motivate software developers. In application, HarmonyOS is a brand- 2019, Huawei said it would invest new world. $1 billion to encourage software The was devel- developers to be part of the Har- oped by Chinese tech heavyweight monyOS ecosystem, with 80 per- Huawei Technologies Co. cent of the money going to overseas “It offers me a clue into what the applicants. world of the internet of things looks Huawei focuses on two aspects — like,” Ge said. encouraging Chinese app develop- Ge has been learning to use tools ers to go global and attracting as from HarmonyOS to develop appli- many overseas app developers as cations for months under the watch- possible. ful eye of his father, himself a In September 2020, the compa- professional software developer. ny also said it would build three The younger Ge started learning new laboratories and five new ser- about HarmonyOS more than a year vice centers abroad to better help ago. developers as part of its broader “HarmonyOS is not a substitute push to create a vibrant software for ’s Android or Apple’s iOS. ecosystem for its in-house operat- It is to power the IoT. Its developer ing system. tools are very convenient to use,” Ge Wang Yanmin, president of the Shuai said, adding that he is now global eco-development depart- developing an online shopping ment at Huawei’s consumer busi- application. ness group, said the company would He is one of a growing number of invest more resources to build three Chinese software developers who eco-partnership laboratories in Ger- are now working on applications Customers try out Huawei products powered by HarmonyOS at a Huawei outlet in in June. WANG GANG / FOR CHINA DAILY many, Poland and Russia. centered around HarmonyOS. At And Huawei will also build five the first HarmonyOS Developer global developer service centers in Innovation Contest held earlier this millions of devices, including cars Romania, Russia, Egypt, Mexico year, more than 10,000 software equipped with smart screens, can and Malaysia, which will be developers from over 3,000 teams run the JD app or any other app designed to better help global devel- presented their work. US government via HarmonyOS. opers enter these markets through The developers are key to Huawei restrictions leave Such an increasingly larger alli- localized organizations and plat- achieving its ambition of building a ance offers stronger motivation for forms, Wang said. robust ecosystem centering on a Huawei with no other software developers to come up Huawei also said it would signifi- powerful operating system, a dream choice but to with applications that can deliver cantly reduce its cut from transac- that many Chinese tech heavy- cross-device experiences. tions on the platform and let weights entertain but none has yet accelerate research Yin Dong, a Beijing-based soft- application developers enjoy more turned into reality. and development to ware developer who has been using profits than Google and Apple do on Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei’s tools from HarmonyOS to develop their Android and iOS app stores, consumer business group, said Har- build an open tech mobile apps for months, said he is respectively. monyOS, which was first unveiled in ecosystem of its own, very optimistic about the operating Huawei is not the first Chinese August 2019, is a -generation OS system’s future. company to try to develop an oper- designed for the IoT era. It is from hardware to “It is very convenient to develop ating system. Internet giant Alibaba designed to deliver a smooth experi- software for applications for cross-device experi- Group made a similar push, but it ence across different devices. .” ences based on HarmonyOS. Unlike failed. “You can develop your apps Android, which is designed only for “Compared with internet compa- once, then flexibly deploy them Consumers line up outside the Huawei flagship store in Shanghai to Charlie Dai, principal analyst at smartphones, HarmonyOS is for nies, Huawei’s giant hardware base across a range of different devices,” experience the latest smartphone series P50 on July 30. market research company IoT devices including watches, TVs, provides it the biggest edge in pro- Yu said. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Forrester cars and even ovens, enabling them moting HarmonyOS. The company The ambition is great, but the to easily connect with each other ships millions of pieces of hardware key to success lies in whether soft- and deliver new functions,” Yin every year, including smartphones, ware developers will embrace the smartphone users of HarmonyOS. bank employee who recently ucts, some 200 varieties, within this said. personal computers and smart- new OS and make applications Stated differently, every second, upgraded the software of his year.” Charlie Dai, principal analyst at watches,” said Xiang Ligang, direct- around it. Facing arguably its big- eight users upgrade the OS of their Mate 30 smartphone to The OS will help build an efficient market research company Forrest- or-general of the telecom industry gest challenge in its more than older models of Huawei smart- HarmonyOS, said the new oper- link between Midea’s products and er, said: “US government restric- association Information Consump- 34-year history, Huawei is deter- phones on average, replacing ating system enables very the smart IoT system, Xiang said, tions leave Huawei with no other tion Alliance. mined to pour in hefty resources to Android with HarmonyOS. smooth experience across his adding that more home appliances choice but to accelerate research Analysts said although Harmony- realize the dream. One month later, Huawei said as phone and Huawei tablet. equipped with HarmonyOS will and development to build an open OS still has a long way to go before it In June, the Chinese tech giant of Aug 6, smartphone users of Har- Huawei said that currently more soon be available in the market. tech ecosystem of its own, from can be an alternative to iOS and launched the latest version of its OS monyOS exceeded 50 million amid than 20 of its smartphone models Huawei expects that in 2021, hardware to software for smart- Android, its development will bring — HarmonyOS 2 — for smart- mounting enthusiasm from part- support HarmonyOS. In terms of more than 40 mainstream brands phones. It is a tough journey but about healthy competition. phones, tablets and . ners and consumers to embrace the ecosystem, more than 300 partners, will become new partners of Har- Huawei must go through it to sur- Customers across the world, That marked a crucial step for Hua- system. including home appliance maker monyOS. vive and thrive.” whose needs have been increasingly wei, which had prepared for its tran- Huawei said earlier that it aims to Midea, artificial intelligence com- In addition to hardware, soft- Wang Chenglu, president of the diverse, will stand to benefit the sition from Google’s Android have 300 million devices powered pany iFlytek and cookware compa- ware companies are also embrac- software department at Huawei’s most, Xiang said. operating system to HarmonyOS for by HarmonyOS by the end of this ny Supor, have embraced ing HarmonyOS. For instance, consumer business group, said the Ma Miao, a software developer in a long time after Washington year, including more than 200 mil- HarmonyOS. with the OS, e-commerce giant JD short-term market share goal for Changsha, Hunan province, said: “I restricted access to Google software lion for its own devices and the rest Xiang Jiangxu, vice-president and is trying to have its app run on tel- HarmonyOS’s ecosystem is 16 am impressed with Huawei’s resil- and services in 2019. coming from third-party company chief technology officer of Midea evisions, even refrigerators, and percent. ience amid mounting pressure. And At the start of July, Huawei said equipment. IoT, said, “HarmonyOS will cover other screen-equipped devices. If “Sixteen percent is a threshold for I am happy to be part of its long there were more than 30 million Zhang Wentao, a Beijing-based almost all categories of our prod- everything goes well, hundreds of an operating system’s ecosystem to march to popularize HarmonyOS.” Chinese developers hit pay dirt on global stage

By MA SI seas users now account for 30 per- ners and Apple. cent of NOMO’s total user base.” Isabel Ge Mahe, vice-president Lin Jiashu, a photography enthu- Lin is just one of millions of Chi- and managing director of Apple siast, left his job at an e-commerce nese developers that have become Greater China, said earlier: “Chi- The App Store Small company in 2015 to set up Blink global success stories on Apple’s iOS nese software developers have Business Program Academy — a developer of video and App Store. The US company said on grown to be a very admirable com- photography apps. With just a May 31 that the developer commu- munity of innovators. Through helps us invest more three-person team, Blink has suc- nity of its iOS app ecosystem now Apple’s App Store, Chinese develop- resources in cessfully launched three photo, vlog, has more than 4.4 million third-par- ers’ products have entered the glob- and video editing apps, including ty developers in China, a 76 percent al stage and many of them have upgrading current Onetake, NOMO and Protake, for increase from two years ago. become successful cases interna- apps and developing US tech titan Apple’s iOS App Store. Apple said it witnessed a surge in tionally.” NOMO, the most successful Chinese developers for the example is miHoYo, a Chi- more groundbreaking among the three, is a unique app Developer Program which provides nese and ani- apps to share Chinese designed for camera enthusiasts Apple technologies for creating mation studio based in Shanghai. It culture.” who love taking pictures with retro engaging apps and the unique was founded in 2012 by three stu- Cosplayers pose at a company event of Chinese game developer cameras. Within one week of its opportunity to make their apps dents — Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei and Luo Qu Zhangcai, CEO of Beijing miHoYo in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, last September. release on the in April global hits. Yuhao from Shanghai Jiao Tong Xichuang Culture Media ZHOU YOU / FOR CHINA DAILY 2018, NOMO rose to be among the To better empower local talent, University — and draws on their top three most popular free apps Apple has also launched a string of shared love of anime. globally, and immediately reached “Today at Apple” events, including Now, it has become one of China’s “The Genshin Impact project the next two to three years, and this The company’s most popular app customers around the world — the Apple Creative Studios initiative biggest gaming companies with over began in early 2017 when we set out proved to be true,” Liu said. Xichuangzhu enables users to expe- without any marketing support to provide opportunities to young 2,000 employees. Liu Wei, to create an open-world adventure To better support small and indi- rience the beauty of Chinese poetry. from the small team, Lin said. creators. co-founder of miHoYo, attributes game. This was a very bold decision vidual developers, Apple has Qu Zhangcai, CEO of Beijing He said that in Japan, NOMO Launching first in Beijing and much of the firm’s success to its brave at the time because such a game launched an App Store Small Busi- Xichuang Culture Media, said, “The reached fourth place on the App Los Angeles, participants of Apple decision to develop an open-world demanded high performance. But ness Program. Beijing Xichuang App Store Small Business Program Store, where it was discovered and Creative Studios programming game — Genshin Impact, which was we were confident in the ability of Culture Media Co Ltd, as a benefici- helps us invest more resources in downloaded by influential Japanese receive hands-on experience and released last year. It has become the mobile devices to support it. We ary of the program, is eligible for a upgrading current apps and devel- camera enthusiasts who further mentorship from renowned art- biggest Chinese game globally to believed that Apple devices would reduced 15 percent commission rate oping more groundbreaking apps to helped spread its popularity. “Over- ists, nonprofit community part- launch on the iOS App Store. grow more and more powerful over on Apple’s iOS App Store. share .”