President Trump’s Huawei ban could end Android as we know it and possibly have a lasting effect on Apple

“Google is complying with Trump’s administration banning of Huawei, the world’s second biggest smartphone manufacturer,” Jesus Diaz writes for Tom’s Guide. “If this isn’t remedied in the short term, it may open a divide that may prove fatal to the platform and also have a lasting effect on other companies, like Apple.”
“Google — as Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft, Corning, even companies like Dolby and many others — are US-based companies bound to US law,” Diaz writes. “That means that this company has to stop any business with the Huawei: from selling them the glass for their screen to the OS for their computers and phones, to processors and modems, to apps and services like YouTube and Gmail.”
“One of the possible outcomes of this is that Huawei may decide to release their own operating system. This will count with the potential involvement of the Chinese government — and its economic resources —and the rest of the Chinese Android manufacturers. After the ZTE debacle and this, it’s clear that the Chinese can’t afford to depend on the US for a crucial part of its infrastructure and business development… it will definitely affect Google, developers and, by extension, every Android phone user. Developers will eventually be forced to maintain two codebases. And users will have to make a choice, potentially dividing Android between the US and the rest of the world,” Diaz writes. “[Retaliation by China might include] forbidding Apple products in China [and] also making Apple’s providers to stop having business with Apple. ‘This would not be without cost – Apple is a big employer inside China,’ Greengart says, ‘and has good relationships with the government.’ But all bets are off at this point.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Android is already a fragmented morass and Google’s official version of Android isn’t “open” at all, obviously. Anything that hurts “Android,” a stolen product, if a Good Thing (as long as Apple skates on by in the long-term).
Hopefully, as the pressure is ratcheted up, both sides will return to the table ready to agree to a more balanced U.S-China trade deal.
I’m cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced. My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 24, 2018
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