At the 21st Huawei Analyst Summit, Eric Xu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman and Rotating Chairman, issued a call to action for developers to collaborate on building native apps for HarmonyOS, the company’s innovative mobile operating system.
“Huawei invites all app developers and owners in China to participate in our HarmonyOS-native app ecosystem and collaborate towards delivering an enhanced experience for consumers,” emphasized Xu during his keynote address at HAS 2024.
HarmonyOS represents Huawei’s next-generation operating system designed to seamlessly run across a diverse array of smart devices, including smartphones, wearables, tablets, and smart TVs. With deployment on over 800 million devices by the end of 2023, HarmonyOS has already made significant strides in the market.
Counterpoint Research reports that HarmonyOS captured 4% of the global market share and exceeded 16% market share in China in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Huawei is actively bolstering the HarmonyOS ecosystem, with over 4,000 apps already in the process of being ported to the platform out of the targeted 5,000. The company aims to expand this to include up to a million apps, signaling its commitment to fostering a robust ecosystem.
Xu highlighted HarmonyOS’s versatile architecture, tailored to support a wide spectrum of devices, from IoT gadgets and mobile devices to home appliances, laptops, and desktop computers.
“In 2024, our primary focus is to cultivate the HarmonyOS-native app ecosystem,” Xu emphasized. “This monumental endeavor is supported by industry-wide collaboration and the enthusiasm of numerous app developers.”
While initially targeting the Chinese market, Huawei plans to gradually introduce HarmonyOS to other countries through a strategic, country-by-country approach.
The company has made substantial investments in nurturing talent for the HarmonyOS ecosystem, with over 380,000 developers certified in HarmonyOS and more than 150 industry-university partnership programs established.
Acknowledging the challenges ahead, Xu affirmed Huawei’s dedication to building a thriving HarmonyOS ecosystem. “Though the development of HarmonyOS was not part of our original strategy, we are committed to its success and will strive to excel in this endeavor,” he concluded.
