The Chinese giant has signed an agreement with TomTom to use Dutch mapping services. This way, Huawei can do without Google Maps
Huawei continues to build its alternative to Android. Or, at least, to the Google services that may disappear from its mobile devices in the short term. As it has been known for a long time, in fact, the trade war between the United States and China has made Trump's axe fall on the Chinese mobile phone manufacturer (and 5G equipment), which has thus lost its license to use products made by Google.
And if the Android obstacle seems to have been overcome (Huawei is supposedly finalizing its operating system for smartphones and tablets, made from the "open source" Android source code), the main problem remains that of services. Huawei, in fact, cannot install on its devices the various Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Assistant, and is therefore forced to make a "home-made" alternative (known by the acronym of HMS, Huawei Mobile Services). Or find agreements with service providers (non-U.S., of course) so they can install their products on Chinese smartphones.
Huawei Google Services: the alternative to Google Maps is Dutch
The Chinese giant, which in 2019 was able to sell as many as 240 million smartphones worldwide despite the U.S. blockade, seems to have found an alternative to Google Maps that, on paper, should not make the Big G mapping service regret. TomTom has announced that it has closed a deal with Huawei Technologies for the use of its maps and digital mapping services in the Chinese manufacturer's devices.
The announcement was made by Remco Meerstra, TomTom spokesperson, who specified that the agreement was formalized several months ago, but the two parties preferred not to disclose it. TomTom's maps and other digital services from the Dutch developer will therefore find a place within the HMS ecosystem, and by the time Huawei officially launches Harmony OS, users will find TomTom's navigator pre-installed on their devices.