Despite the US/China trade war, the US Commerce Department was willing to give several companies licenses to continue working with Huawei, with Microsoft being among the first to get one.
The US/China trade war is still far from being resolved. However, there are still some positive developments as of late. For example, the US Commerce Department recognized the damage it could make by not allowing US companies to continue their collaboration with Huawei.
Microsoft gets US license to resume selling software to Huawei https://t.co/bNX5zPNCxF pic.twitter.com/H5wsgYcN5H
— Engadget (@engadget) November 24, 2019
While they are still planning to blacklist the Chinese company in most respects, they still promised to grant special licenses to some companies, which would allow them to continue working with Huawei. Microsoft was among the first firms to receive such a license. The company can now legally ‘export mass-market software,’ although it is still not clear what that implies.
The Commerce Department’s decision to provide these licenses in the first place is a positive sign for consumers of Huawei products. However, Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross. stated that not a lot of the firms would get them. Many are still waiting for Google to announce getting a license, as it provides numerous apps to Huawei products.
Without the license, Huawei devices will have to drop all of their Google apps, no matter where in the world they sell their devices. Obviously, this will have a strong impact on the users who expect these apps as part of their experience.
Even so, the US officials’ top priority is to prevent Chinese intelligence agencies from using Huawei to spy on the US cellular networks and citizens. They would gladly inconvenience Huawei users around the world if that meant that China is not watching.
Interestingly enough, the US seems to be willing to do this on pure suspicion that China might be using Huawei in such a way. They have yet to find and present any evidence of Chinese surveillance. In other words, if Google cannot obtain the same license as Windows, Huawei phones will not have support for Google apps for much longer.
What are your thoughts on the current situation? Do you think that Google will get the necessary permissions to keep working with Huawei? Let us know in the comments below.
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