Update: Huawei Issued Waiver by U.S. to Continue Software Updates & Hardware Maintenance
by Andrei Frumusanu on May 20, 2019 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Huawei
Update 05/20, 9pm: Following last week's ban and Google's suspension of business operations with Huawei, the U.S. Commerce Department has issued a new waiver for the company to continue purchasing limited goods from U.S. companies for maintenance purposes. Under the 90 day waiver, Huawei will be allowed to purchase hardware and software services to maintain current infrastructure as well as provide software updates for existing Huawei Android devices. As noted by Reuters, however, Huawei is still banned from buying parts and equipment for manufacturing new devices – meaning that as things currently stand, the company can only keep building affected products until their stockpiles run out.
While the waiver itself is initially only for 90 days, it can be extended as necessary by the U.S. Government.
Update 05/20: Huawei this morning has responded to reports and the U.S. Commerce Department’s ban, issuing the following statement:
Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.
Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.
We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.
This answers one of the most important questions for the moment – what happens to support for current devices – however it remains to be seen what this means for new Huawei smartphones, particularly the Honor 20, which is launching tomorrow.
Original: According to a recent report by Reuters, sources claim that Google is to suspend some business operations with Huawei due to the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklisting of the company earlier in the week on Thursday.
Huawei is said to lose access to non-open source software and services provided by Google, which in layman terms means essentially all Google services besides baseline Android. Losing access to the Play Store would be a major blow to Huawei’s mobile operations besides the Chinese market where Google doesn’t operate any services.
Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license that is freely open to anyone who wishes to use it.
But Google will stop providing any technical support and collaboration for Android and Google services to Huawei going forward, the source said.
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Source: Reuters
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austinsguitar - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - link
look, this goes for huawei AND the us government. the people need more transparency on what the heck is happening. its not just trade but the us and other governments finding backdoors and security issues on huawei devices. but we have NO information on what they are? COME ON MAN! what in the hell is even going on with both huawei and governments. tell us the truth. this goes for bot huawei and governments. what is up?also i dont believe this crap is only because huawei is growing as a company. there is more to this than just that.
StrangerGuy - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - link
I don't know about Huawei, but the accountability and credibility of the US government is one big, sick hypocritical joke.Wardrive86 - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - link
China bans hardware and software from companies in the USA as well. Often for stupid reasons. Its a game many governments play, Im sorry if this one affected you but it is a two way street.Notmyusualid - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
@ Wardrive - China just interfered with one of my customers too. And they are a Chinese company also!?! But not tied to the gov like the competition company.It has put us back 18 months, which whilst profitable for me personally, has been painfully expensive for my customer.
So yes, interference, on a whim.
Valantar - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
The question then is: why should the US government aim to be just as bad as the Chinese government? Doesn't that kind of undermine the whole idea of them being "the bad guy"?Wardrive86 - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
Just as bad? China is ruled by a single party, a single party that elected a single leader that most likely will not be voted against (fear), a single leader who just last year abolished term limits for himself. This isnt about phones. At this point only a foolish government would allow Huawei into its infrastructure.ZolaIII - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
US is ruled by a small number of elite individuals, two political options have a single purpose that you think that you have a choice but in reality you don't. It's better to have single good monarch for life (but extremely rare) then bunch of fools.Dr. Swag - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
You can't possibly believe the US worse than China... Yes, there is a ton of political corruption; yes, the system currently in place means your voting might not be as influential as you'd like, but there's so many bad things in China that would never happen in the US. US has freedom of speech and freedom of the press that allows you to say stuff like what you just did without getting sent to jail; you can access whatever websites you want without the government blocking stuff; you don't have the government persecuting some minority groups. It's not even comparable.ads295 - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
Have you been to China? Did you know their average factory labourer makes $1000 a month and has a two hour lunch break? Or that a place with 20-storey buildings is called a "village" simply because it doesn't have a train station yet?The model is different, but I think freedom of speech is overrated if you get to work with million dollar machinery and have the government literally throw money your way just so you can make world class products.
There's a world beyond mere opining - a world of doing.
s.yu - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
*Average factory labourer makes $1000 a month and has a two hour lunch break*Seems you have the wrong idea. Foxconn gives top blue collar wages in China, their rate is about what you cite or slightly lower. Most white collars anywhere other than the megacities have to live with income 1/3 less. Also, the jumps off roofs have stopped because they installed safety nets all over the place.
The average annual personal income in China in 2018, under current exchange rates, was about $3300.