Le nouveau monde, c’est lui ! – Le Point
What happened: It is “very much possible” that Huawei’s proprietary operating system, known as Hongmeng or Ark OS, will be faster than Google’s and Apple’s systems, CEO Ren Zhengfei has told French magazine Le Point in an interview on July 4. He added that it features a processing delay of fewer than five milliseconds, making it “perfectly” adapted for the internet of things (IoT) and autonomous driving. However, Ren said that building a completely new app ecosystem remained a big challenge as Android and iOS dominate the market. It is creating an app store to lure more developers to solve the issue.
Why important: The operating system is seen as a way for Huawei mitigate its dependence on US products, namely Android. US President Donald Trump reportedly lifted some of restrictions on Huawei after the G20 summit end-June but uncertainties remain and the telecom giant is still officially on the Commerce Department’s entity list. Nevertheless, the company is pushing ahead with its own OS, which Ren sees as an innovation rather than a substitute. “We built this system to connect all objects simultaneously, this is how we move towards a smart society,” he said.