Despite the fact that in general I really love the products Huawei and consider this company extremely promising, lately it began to seem to me that it simply does not know in which direction to move. I even wrote an article about it, in which I compared Huawei with a moose running in panic through a burning forest, and assumed that fate was simply leading it. Not the most flattering comparison, I agree, but the absence of significant decisions on the part of the company pushed me to just this conclusion. And nevertheless, I did not leave the feeling that I could mistakenly blame the Chinese for the lack of a strategy, although in fact it may well be, even if at first glance it is not obvious.
HarmonyOS has a chance to gain a significant share of the mobile OS market
Recently, CEO Huawei Ren Zhenfei made a statement in which he indicated that the company, although it is preparing to release the HarmonyOS operating system, is still not going to compete directly with iOS and Android. The top manager referred to the fact that it is simply unrealistic to win back any tangible share from them in the current conditions. Perhaps it sounded somewhat decadent, but completely objective. Still, iOS and Android have been reigning in the mobile operating system market for a dozen years, and there is clearly nothing to catch Huawei. Which, of course, is not at all the case.
How many Android smartphones are there in the world
Now Huawei is the second most popular smartphone manufacturer in the world. It can play into his hands
To assess the prospects for HarmonyOS, I decided to conduct a completely superficial analysis of the market, which, nevertheless, was enough for me. From official sources, I learned that there are about 2.5 billion users in the world today Android. This is last year's data, but I think they more or less reflect the real state of affairs. The total share iOS is not known for certain, but not so long ago Apple she announced that she sold her billionth one iPhone. This means that if there are at least half a billion people who use smartphones Apple on a regular basis, this is already a success.
Why are these calculations needed, especially such inaccurate ones? In fact, specific numbers are not important here, but at least an approximate understanding of the situation is important. See for yourself. Last year Huawei delivered more than 240 million smartphones to the market, and the combined market share that it owns is 19%. Probably, this year the result will be a little worse, but, most likely, not dramatically. Therefore, if Huawei loses 4%, which is really unlikely, its share will be 15%. It is from this figure that I propose to build on in further considerations.
Transfer Huawei to HarmonyOS
Quite frankly, 15% is a fairly large proportion. Only Samsung has more. But Samsung has been playing in this market longer, and its assortment is wider, and it has no problems with Google. But the important thing here is that if Huawei releases HarmonyOS and transfers all its smartphones to it at once, it will bite off a colossal market share from Android. I know it won't be easy and probably not as soon as fans of the Chinese brand would like. However, there is nothing unreal about this. I think the developers Huawei who are building HarmonyOS based on the features of EMUI and Magic UI will be able to release transfer updates.
15% market share is a very cool indicator that neither iOS nor Android had at the start
How will users react to this? Well, if you carry out the transfer today or tomorrow, it is most likely negative. This event should be preceded by a large-scale preparation, within the framework of which Huawei will have to explain to users why the transition to HarmonyOS is necessary for them in the first place. And in order for the suggestion to be better remembered, it is better to stimulate the audience in some way, for example, by providing them with free access to some services or with something that usually attracts an intractable electorate there.
I am absolutely sure that Huawei has a chance not only to compete with Android and iOS, but to take a significant height at the start. After all, if you remember, no other operating system had a 15% market share at the time of its launch. And HarmonyOS will have it. The main thing is to do everything so that users who are actually forcibly transplanted from Android to a completely new site for them are satisfied with the implementation. But, I think Huawei won't have any problems with this. It will be enough just to leave the same interface as Android. And Google services are not there now.