Google vs Huawei developments
Following on from yesterday, the main development today is that Trump decided on giving a grace period of 90 days for US companies to sort themselves out before the full imposition of the ban on dealing with Huawei.
Yesterday’s announcement from Google that it would stop supplying Huawei with Android software means that new Huawei phones won’t be able to access apps such as Google Maps and YouTube and old phones won’t get updated.
Huawei has tried to play it cool by saying that it has been developing its own operating system since 2012 for just such a scenario and so will be alright but the fact is that this is going to put the brakes on the company’s impressive recent growth as I think it’ll be unlikely that users will gladly abandon Google Maps and Gmail for WeChat and Tencent Video.
With 75% of Europeans using an Android phone and Huawei having a 25% market share, if this continues it could be very damaging.
The other thing is that Google could suffer further down the line if Huawei introduces its new operating system as a result of all this drama and it become so successful that it breaks the current duopoly of Android and iOS.
British Steel
The other thing I wanted to talk about today was British Steel, which looks like it’s on the verge of going bust with thousands of jobs at risk if it fails to secure a £75m emergency loan from the government today.
This comes only weeks after it secured a £120m loan from the government to help it meet its environmental bill.
Order numbers have been hit due to Brexit uncertainty and 5,000 British Steel jobs could be at risk as well as 20,000 others in the supply chain.
Current owner Greybull Capital is reluctant to put any money in the pot to save the company, so its future will depend on the government’s decision.
EY will come in as administrators tomorrow if the loan is not forthcoming.
