Posts for 2019

Everyone's talking about it - everyone with a mobile phone and access to the Internet, that is.

A couple days ago, Google stunned the world by announcing that it was blocking Huawei's access to Google Play and Android updates. This was in response to the USA sanctions imposed on China trade as part of the US-China Trade War. Huawei's problems were compounded when suppliers such as Infineon Technologies and Qualcomm announced a halt to shipments to Huawei until they could figure out if said business arrangements were in violation of US Trade Law.



Is Huawei in trouble? The China tech company certainly appears to be in dire straits. After all, without suppliers, how do parts for devices get assembled? Without access to user technology such as apps, how will users use Huawei phones at all?

It would be premature to write Huawei off at this point in time. If it were any other company in any other country, maybe. But this is China, and China has its own ecosystem of apps, and more importantly, a large enough domestic market to support it. In fact, it's this very market that companies such as Facebook and Google wanted to tap back then, but failed.

Sure, Huawei phones won't be able to use Gmail. But the Chinese use QQ. True, no Google search. But the Chinese use Baidu. Getting the idea yet, or am I going to have to trot out the hundred and one alternatives for the apps that the Chinese are not going to miss? This situation really affects non-Chinese Huawei users the most... and all I can say is, tough titty, folks.

The USA may just have miscalculated, though. With a strong domestic market and their own technology, there is a distinct possibility that Huawei being forced to get creative could result in them digging deep and emerging from this with stronger, superior tech. Undoubtedly, it'll take time. But again, this is China. They've been around like, forever. They've got nothing but time.

Unfair practices?

People are going on and on about unfair practices on the part of the USA, and others are retaliating with retorts that China started it by banning Google and Facebook a while back.

First of all, China did not ban Google. Not deliberately, anyway. By default, all external parties are banned unless they adhere to China's policy of censorship. Not that I like censorship, but China's been completely consistent here. Comply, or fuck off. Google opted for the latter, because those restrictions went against the freedom of information it stands for. One could, of course, make a case for China eliminating competition for search engines and Social Media such as Baidu and Weibo, but on the surface at least, China's position is pretty legitimate.

Secondly, it's a Trade War, children. There's nothing fair or unfair about it. It is what it is.

Are you Team China or Team USA?

Personally, I couldn't give a monkey's left nut. Why do I have to choose a side? I'm a consumer. I'm on the consumer's side. And if this results in Huawei blossoming in its independence and churning out a new generation of devices that will break the Android and iOS stranglehold on global markets today, all the better. Tech wins.

As to who wins this Trade War, your guess is as good as mine. I think China and USA severely underestimate each other.

China has weathered many a storm over millennia, and this latest thing is merely a blip in a long history full of violence and turmoil. It's really difficult to see the Chinese breaking a sweat over this. They may seem arbitrary and inflexible, but damn if they don't know how to take a beating.

The USA may seem complacent and smug, but remember you're dealing with the spirit that manufactured the nuclear bomb, and even used a couple to end World War Two.