The Chinese Government wants to end Windows, iOS and Android using Harmony

At least that’s what the “experts” on the subject say. And if we take into account the technological fight that is taking place between the USA and China for global dominance, it does not seem like a far fetched idea.

The Chinese government makes no secret of its ambition to reduce, and even eliminate, dependence on foreign operating systems such as Windows, iOS and Android. To achieve this, it has opted for the development of its own operating system, HarmonyOS, as the cornerstone of this strategy.

After many years of problems for Huawei (the most important mobile company in China) to be able to use the Android system, the company decided to promote its own operating system (which it called Harmony) and which is already used in some of the latest mobile phones that it offers to the market.

HarmonyOS was introduced in 2019, and was presented as a versatile and adaptable operating system, designed to work on a wide range of devices, from smartphones and tablets to smart home appliances and wearables.

To drive the adoption of HarmonyOS, the Chinese government has implemented various measures, including:

• Financial incentives: Subsidies have been provided to device manufacturers to pre-install HarmonyOS on their products.
• Domestic market promotions: Large-scale advertising campaigns have been carried out to increase awareness of HarmonyOS among Chinese consumers.
• Restrictions on competitors: The pre-installation of foreign operating systems on some devices sold in China has been made difficult.

In some news it is published that the Chinese government intends to support the creation of 1,000 companies dedicated to these tasks, and that the Huawei company is going to hire around 3 million people to work on the development of Harmony. I have many doubts about these numbers, since not even Apple and Google together have so many people for the development and maintenance of their operating systems.

In any case, and despite the efforts of the Chinese government, the path for HarmonyOS to become a dominant global player is more than uncertain. Some of the challenges faced are:

• Lack of a robust application ecosystem: HarmonyOS does not yet have the same number and variety of applications as its competitors.
• Dependence on the Chinese market: The vast majority of HarmonyOS users are located in China, which limits its global reach.
• Consumer perception: Associating HarmonyOS with the Chinese government could create distrust in some markets.

The Chinese government’s commitment to HarmonyOS is logical and ambitious, and reflects its desire for greater technological autonomy. However, the road for this operating system to reach global dominance is still very long and full of unknown factors.

As always, time will tell.