Update: Huawei Issued Waiver by U.S. to Continue Software Updates & Hardware Maintenance
by Andrei Frumusanu on May 20, 2019 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Huawei
Update 05/20, 9pm: Following last week's ban and Google's suspension of business operations with Huawei, the U.S. Commerce Department has issued a new waiver for the company to continue purchasing limited goods from U.S. companies for maintenance purposes. Under the 90 day waiver, Huawei will be allowed to purchase hardware and software services to maintain current infrastructure as well as provide software updates for existing Huawei Android devices. As noted by Reuters, however, Huawei is still banned from buying parts and equipment for manufacturing new devices – meaning that as things currently stand, the company can only keep building affected products until their stockpiles run out.
While the waiver itself is initially only for 90 days, it can be extended as necessary by the U.S. Government.
Update 05/20: Huawei this morning has responded to reports and the U.S. Commerce Department’s ban, issuing the following statement:
Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.
Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.
We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.
This answers one of the most important questions for the moment – what happens to support for current devices – however it remains to be seen what this means for new Huawei smartphones, particularly the Honor 20, which is launching tomorrow.
Original: According to a recent report by Reuters, sources claim that Google is to suspend some business operations with Huawei due to the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklisting of the company earlier in the week on Thursday.
Huawei is said to lose access to non-open source software and services provided by Google, which in layman terms means essentially all Google services besides baseline Android. Losing access to the Play Store would be a major blow to Huawei’s mobile operations besides the Chinese market where Google doesn’t operate any services.
Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license that is freely open to anyone who wishes to use it.
But Google will stop providing any technical support and collaboration for Android and Google services to Huawei going forward, the source said.
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Source: Reuters
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sonny73n - Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - link
And how many parties rule the US?The Deep State is not even a party.
Notmyusualid - Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - link
@ Wardrive - well said.peevee - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
"why should the US government aim to be just as bad as the Chinese government?"Yeah, if Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, why should we be as bad and bomb them?
China conducts an economic war against the US for 40 years, employing traitors in our government to advance their interests. Finally it seems we have a non-traitor as a President.
Qizhi.Yao - Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - link
I hate to post politics in a technology forum but... in general in China ethnic minority enjoys huge advantage over ordinary Han people in everyday life. This goes from leniency in sentencing criminals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liangshaoyikuan) to bonus in college entrance examination (Gaokao). I will expand on the latter point a bit. Gaokao is very roughly equivalent to SAT in the U.S., but much more important, because in China there is in general no consideration given for extracurricular activities and recommendation letters. If a student is an ethnic minority, he/she would automatically get 5 to 20 extra points on Gaokao (on top of a total of ~400 to 750 points on the exam, depending on the province). The policy at the provincial level can be found here: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/57481665 . The site is in Chinese, but google translate does an OK job.That is a HUGE advantage.
Just to elaborate further, if a student has one of the parents being Han (the ethnic majority) while the other belonging to an ethnic minority group, then the student has the freedom to classify him/herself either as Han or an ethnic minority. For the a few cases I know, if a student had such a choice, _not a single one_ would classify him/herself as Han, if for nothing else but for the added bonus in Gaokao.
So much for the purported discrimination against minorities. Now compare this to the U.S. where you have the Chinese exclusion act and (now) alleged Harvard admission bias...
By the way if you are a foreigner, then you are even luckier. For getting into the very best science/engineering institution like Tsinghua University (where Andrew Yao, who received the 2000 Turing award, is employed full-time), you can just apply and don't even need to enter Gaokao.
It is truly amazing that people in a country that had to endure the century of humiliation, two Opium wars, two Sino-Japanese wars (in the second up to twenty million Chinese died), among others, are now branded as being racist.
s.yu - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
The Party does grant privileges for foreigners receiving higher education, but it just about stops there. First of all, the decision-making core of the Party which decided on this is not democratically elected, that's why some policies notably go against the local culture, which is racist. Second, the diploma for foreigners entering through the alternative application is different from locals which passed through Gaokao, it also holds different weight, unlike US diplomas which are the same for both foreign students and locals. Third, if you see ease of receiving higher education as special treatment, there are disadvantages to foreigners as well, many administration fees are higher, IIRC the tax structure is also different. And of course, it's near impossible for a foreigner to attain citizenship in China.Regarding ethnic issues, the examples from centuries ago were merely directed at that insane Soviet as he kept bringing centuries old history up. Currently, Policy-wise minorities are at a significant advantage, clearly the Party's bribe to keep them loyal. I know many Han are discontent about the special treatment minorities get, just as people on rural Hukou are discontent about certain policies leaning toward people with urban Hukou. Otherwise the only significant racial tension left in China should be between Muslims and Han, a significant proportion of both view the other side negatively, and physical conflict is not uncommon.
wilsonkf - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - link
US government is really gracious to Huawei as they keep claiming Huawai is a security threat but also keep the evidences as the highest secret - not even wikileak can access it unlike NSA.s.yu - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
They don't have to, they already published the detailed report about Huawei selling US tech to Iran under a shell which the Chinese never properly disputed with any counterevidence, and that's reason enough for Huawei to make the list. By that point whether to list them was already the discretion of the US.s.yu - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
I realize the reason for some people saying this is that they haven't read the press release. Go read this now:https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2019/...
wilsonkf - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
The ban to Iran is violated by many US and Europe companies. Or have you checked Irangate? Can I call Whitehouse and Israel a security threat because they secretly delivered weapon to Iran during Iran - Iraqi war?It is kind of double standard to say Huawai is a security threat only because it has some business relations with Iran. A normal person would expect security flaws or loopholes intentionally added by the company to their products if it is called a security threat.
Sure US government can do whatever they see fit. But evidence?
s.yu - Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - link
“It is kind of double standard to say Huawai is a security threat only because it has some business relations with Iran”Yes, and double standards are widely practiced around the world. Your law gives you an excuse to act but that doesn't mean enforcement is non-conditional. China accuses the US of obstructing free trade, but China itself has always been obstructing free trade. Its trade barriers have been in place since (and for some, before) it joined the WTO and people hardly pay attention anymore, for most locals, they've truly been brainwashed into thinking China promotes free trade while the US is "picking on a mere private business". Reverse the trade policies between the US and China and see China's economy collapse overnight, the barriers won't do the US much good in the short term but may eventually revive the industry sector.