Google doesn’t want a forked version of Android and wants Huawei back on its official Android version. In a recent report by the Financial Times, Google argues that a forked version of Android in which Huawei is reportedly working on won’t be safe for all and might raise security risks for the US.
Google is afraid that Huawei’s replacement OS for Android is going to more at risk of being hacked. Google had suspended business with Huawei in regard to ‘transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open licenses’. Huawei then got a 90-day reprieve that made them get a temporary Android license that bought the Chinese tech giant time to continue supplying software updates to existing Huawei phones. The company recently announced that they already updated 80 million devices to Android 9 Pie.
In the report, Google argues that when Huawei devices that ship with their own version of Android start selling across the world would be a serious threat to US national security. The search giant company is afraid Huawei devices losing Google’s services such as Google Play and Google Play Protect might compromise the devices and they could be infected by malware and if sensitive information is communicated between a Huawei device and a different brand of phone from someone in the US, that information could be compromised and become a security threat.
Where the negotiations are at as of right now
Liang Hua, Huawei’s chairman told a small group of reporters that Google is working with the US Commerce Department to find a way to quickly resolve this crisis. The negotiations could presumably be Google either pushing for another extension or to exempt them to continue working with Huawei. He added that if Google and the US government come to a resolution, a lot of consumers would benefit from it.
The chairman continued saying that Huawei is yet to negotiate directly with the US government and is waiting to see how the Google negotiations pan out. If it doesn’t turn out well, they’ll be forced to accelerate the development of their Android OS replacement.
Time is ticking as Huawei’s temporary Android license expires on August 19th.
