Ever since Huawei was hit by the trade ban by the US Department of Commerce, the company had lost support for Google services for its Android smartphones. The devices that ship now feature its own HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) and with the recent launch of the Honor 9X Pro in India, the services have arrived in India as well. Now, Honor India’s President, Charles Peng, has revealed that Huawei is seeking to further raise investment in the region to grow HMS.
According to the senior official, the Chinese tech giant is increasing its investment in the country to quickly grow its proprietary services that replace the GMS. The HMS is a software ecosystem, similar to Google’s popular portfolio of apps, and features many basic apps like an app store called AppGallery. Unfortunately, a few major and popular apps like Facebook, YouTube, and more cannot be found in the AppGallery yet, which has led to slowing sales in western regions for Huawei, especially in Europe.
However, the company isn’t deterred and is renewing its efforts in regions like India. Charles stated that “You can see HMS going very fast. India would be our global first frontline to grab consumer attention. We need to speed up ecosystem building exercise and keep investments in India for developers, consumers, and partners. We will keep increasing investment.” Additionally, Peng also said that the company aims at launching 10 new smartphones that ship with HMS later this year, and will include 5G handsets as well.
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At the moment, Honor India is looking to bring over 5,000 applications that are used frequently by Indians. This will cater to the local demand and to make sure people aren’t skeptical about buying the recently launched Honor 9X Pro or any future Huawei/Honor launches. According to official reports, the company already has 1.3 million registered developers for its HMS, with more arriving every day. Apparently, some of the devices that will launch in India will also support a few Google apps but mainly focus on its own AppGallery.
Furthermore, the company is offering monetary incentives of about 20,000 US Dollars for the integration of apps into HMS, and by its extension, the AppGallery. This fund will be used through its recent setup 1 billion US Dollar global fund that was previously announced and was made to bring HMS up to Google services standards. A few popular apps arriving in India include Hungama, Zee5, MX Player, PayTM, Flipkart, and Grofers.
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(Via)
