Huawei OS latest news: Linux-based Sailfish OS may be a new alternative to Android OS during the transitional period

ByMia Carla 2019-06-17 1182

We have been talking here about the Huawei drama to find an operating system that replaces Windows on laptops and Android on smartphones. Thus, the company is developing its own plan B, called Hongmeng in China and Ark out of it. However, this is not the only option. Huawei is also keeping an eye on a Russian operating system called Aurora, based on the Linux Sailfish OS from Finnish company Jolla. Thus, Huawei can use Linux Sailfish OS on smartphones.

Huawei executive Andrew Williamson said the company "presumably" will register the Hongmeng operating system and that Huawei is "in the process of potentially launching a replacement," according to Reuters.

Williamson said that Hongmeng OS would be ready to debut in a few months in the event of a complete trade war.

In May, Google confirmed that it would prohibit Huawei from using its proprietary version of Android. However, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is still released to use the Android Open Source Project if it wants to.

How can Huawei use Linux Sailfish OS on our smartphones?

The Russian news publisher The Bell now reports that Huawei could replace Android with Aurora OS, which is based on the Linux Sailfish OS distribution of Finnish company Jolla.

Aurora OS is owned by Russian Rostelecom, who is also an investor in Jolla. Presumably, if Huawei pre-installed devices with Aurora, it would be for Huawei devices sold in Russia and neighboring markets.

In 2016, Russian authorities decided to make Sailfish the mobile operating system for devices used by ??Russian government agencies and state corporations.

Jolla's ties with Russia come through a partnership with the Russian company Open Mobile, a venture funded by Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin. Thus, he would also have invested in Jolla.

Jolla, in turn, estimates that political tensions around the world are opening opportunities for this. Jolla's CEO, Sami Pienimäki, said he had "clearly more discussions with, for example, Chinese device manufacturers. So he started new projects in Europe with corporate and government customers.

The Finnish company secured in 2017 a new investment to launch the Sailfish China Consortium. This is part of an effort to build a Chinese version of Sailfish and an alternative to Android. This project is making slow progress.

Pienimäki expected a Sailfish for China to take a little longer than in Russia. In the latter, it was three years before it was deployed.

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