Huawei launches Harmony OS 3 to take on Google Android

Beijing, July 28 (IANS) In a bid to take on tech giant Google’s Android operating system amid the ongoing US sanctions, Chinese conglomerate Huawei has unveiled an upgraded version of its own operating system — HarmonyOS 3.According to the South China Morning Post, the company’s third-generation operating system is designed to provide a more seamless experience across devices, including smartphones, tablets, printers, cars and smart home devices such as televisions.The company said that HarmonyOS 3 will be available to more devices starting in September.Huawei debuted the original HarmonyOS in August 2019, three months after the firm was added to US’s trade blacklist, preventing it from buying software, chips and other technologies from US companies.Soon after the ban was announced, Google stopped providing its suite of mobile software services to Huawei.The first device to launch with HarmonyOS was a smart television unveiled in August 2019 by Huawei’s then-subsidiary Honor. HarmonyOS 2.0, Huawei’s second-generation operating system, was adopted by the firm’s smartphones last year, while the car-specific HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit can be found on an electric vehicle launched in China earlier this year, co-developed with domestic automotive brand Seres.As per Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, to date, over 300 million Huawei devices have been equipped with various versions of HarmonyOS.Huawei also announced the launch of Petal Chuxing, a ride-hailing platform that pulls together third-party service providers. Running on HarmonyOS 3, the new app is compatible with several Huawei devices, including smartphones, watches and tablets, the report said.While Huawei said that Petal Chuxing “does not aim to compete with anyone,” the app marks the company’s entrance into a field led by Didi Chuxing, which was recently fined $1.2 billion by Chinese regulators following a year-long cybersecurity investigation.–IANSvc/vd