What Do We Know so far about HarmonyOS, Huawei’s Open-Source Operating System?
Huawei is about to make a major announcement about the future of its mobile operating system HarmonyOS.
On August 9, 2019, the company announced that it had been working on a new operating system called HarmonyOS.
During his speech, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer spoke about Huawei’s intention to launch several products running this new OS, and promised that HarmonyOS would be open source supporting different types of devices, ranging from household appliances – such as range hoods, air conditioners, and water purifiers – to wearable devices, mobile phones, smart cars, computers, and TVs.
In terms of the UI, Android users will likely find HarmonyOS familiar and intuitive. They will be able to do the things they are accustomed to doing with their phones in more or less the same way they always have.
However, what makes HarmonyOS interesting is the new capabilities it will bring.
The moment it appears on phones, HarmonyOS will already be compatible with millions of existing apps. Developers have two major incentives to adapt their Android apps for HarmonyOS.
Huawei already has a user base of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users, and many of those users will be able to upgrade to HarmonyOS on their current Huawei phone.
Huawei has also invested 1 billion USD in Shining Star, a programme that offers financial incentives to developers who adapt their apps to run on HarmonyOS.
In addition to opening up the source code to app developers, Huawei has also invited third-party manufacturers to create HarmonyOS-compatible hardware.
Currently, more than 300 app developers (that’s 300 companies, not 300 individuals) and more than 20 hardware vendors have participated in the construction of HarmonyOS ecosystem.
In a recent interview, Wang Chenglu, President of Software Engineering Dept of Huawei Consumer Business Group, said that he expected HarmonyOS to be running on 300 million individual devices in 2021.
HarmonyOS has received strong support from ecosystem partners and developers. In the future, more ecosystem partners will apply HarmonyOS to an ever-increasing variety of devices and innovative apps, making Huawei’s vision of a Seamless AI Life a reality.
