What you need to know
- Huawei is offering developers $26 million to create apps for its phones.
- Since Huawei has been cut off from Google's services, it has been forced to come up with its own app ecosystem.
- Some of the popular apps currently available on Huawei's AppGallery include Amazon, Fortnite, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Ever since Huawei was placed on the 'entity list' by the Trump administration last year, Huawei has been trying to lure developers to help build its own app ecosystem. The company hosted a developer day in London this week, where it announced (via Business Insider) a $26 million investment aimed at enticing app developers from the UK to create apps for its AppGallery.
Huawei executives pointed out at the developer day that the company only takes a 15% revenue cut from developers, as opposed to the 30% cut that Apple and Google take. Jamie Gonzalo, Huawei's European VP of consumer services, said that Huawei wants to build a less intrusive app ecosystem. While developers will not be allowed to market their apps in the form of notifications, they will be able to market them on users' home screens.
The company's latest phones, including the flagship Mate 30 series run an open-source version of Android, without any Google apps or services. However, the company's latest Huawei Mobile Services 4.0 includes alternatives to all popular Google apps and services.
According to Huawei, its AppGallery has 400 million active users currently. While that doesn't sound very impressive, we should keep in mind that the company's app ecosystem is still in nascent stage. The app selection is also very limited currently, although a few popular apps such as Snapchat, Amazon, and TikTok are already onboard.
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