How will Huawei saga affect rwandans? | The New Times
American tech giant Google's decision to keep its Android software from the Chinese telecom company Huawei is expected to have ripple effects worldwide, analysts have predicted.
Google blocked the world's second largest smartphone maker, Huawei, from some updates to the Android operating system, which beats the Chinese company.
The movement is mainly due to the ongoing commercial war between the United States and China.
Google's decision mainly affects the company's future smart phone releases that may lose access to key Android services, including Google Play, Maps, and the Gmail app.
These may include the upcoming Mate 30 series, whose release is slated for October.
This came after the US administration allowed Huawei to list companies that US companies cannot deal with unless they have a license.
US President Donald Trump has led a public campaign that encourages US Allies to join Huawei, saying, among other things, its technology was a security risk because it allowed the Chinese government to "spy" on other countries.
Huawei phones run on Google's Android operating system (OS), the base code that the phones are running on.
The US government temporarily relieved some of the restrictions on Huawei so the company could buy US goods and provide software updates to existing Huawei phones over the next three months.
The ban effects are expected to be felt not only in Europe or Asia, but also in Africa.
Currently, Huawei operates in 40 African countries, has built at least 50% of Africa's 4G network, provides smart city technology, runs multiple research partnerships, and is the fourth largest smartphone salesman in Africa.
Speaking to The New Times Teddy Kaberuka, a financial analyst in Rwanda, said that the saga will affect peoples & # 39; s consumption in Africa, although he expected the effects to be more felt in China and Asia where Huawei phones are more used.
"It's very difficult to say that the effects will cost so much," he said.
He echoed the same feelings for the Rwandan market and noted that the Rwandan consumers have a number of other options to choose from, if they want to change.
He predicted that Huawei will invest in its own operating system development. 1[ads1]9659002] Felix Ngoga, an importer of smartphones from the United Arab Emirates, said that phone sales people might consider reducing the prices of the Huawei phones they have in stock, and be cautious when they enter more.
Harriet Kariuki, a Sino-Africa Relationship Specialist, told the BBC that African countries should not take the engineering war,
"It's not our kind, we should instead focus on what works for us," she said.
Instead, African countries should come together to educate the people about what is at stake, and hopefully agree on a data protection law to protect African consumers, probably modeled around one of the EU, Kariuki said.
"This is probably the time Africa could consider developing its own technologies that are relevant to its market rather than being passive consumers. I want to see African countries come together and push back toward this crawling digital colonization," she says.
According to IDC for technology research, Huawei is currently the fourth largest smartphone seller in Africa, behind another Chinese company, Transsion, which makes the brands Tecno and Infinix, and Samsung.
All four brands currently use Google Android operating system.
editor@newtimesrwanda.com