Mobile World Live (MWL) brings you our top three picks of the week as Huawei mulled commission fees for its Harmony app store, hype around MWC Shanghai 2024 grows and Nokia inked an API pact with Google Cloud.
Huawei mulls in-app purchase fee for HarmonyOS
What happened: Huawei reportedly considered a plan to start charging developers commission fees for purchases made on its Harmony app store, as it toppled Apple’s iOS in terms of market share in the first three months of 2024.
Why it matters: The potential move indicated Huawei’s increased competition with rivals including Apple and Google in its home market, with iPhone sales in China declining in the opening weeks of the year due to the Mate 60’s popularity. If the plan comes to fruition, Huawei will end its fee-free business model for its Harmony marketplace, though Bloomberg revealed the vendor intends to charge a lower commission than the typical 30 per cent cut asked by its US competitors. In a report, Counterpoint Research stated Harmony’s dethroning of iOS and Android OS in China was due to Huawei’s local customers lining up “to buy flagship offerings”, coupled with the vendor’s focus on “supply chain localisation”.
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Preview: MWC Shanghai heats up as global innovators gather
What happened: The GSMA’s flagship Asia event MWC Shanghai is set to return next week, gathering more than 150 speakers and around 250 exhibitors, sponsors and industry partners under the theme of Future First.
Why it matters: The conference will unpack the hottest industry trends in China and the broader Asia Pacific, including network investments by top local operators, the pace of innovation enabled by 5G and other advanced technologies like AI, as well as the rise of connected industries. Operators aside, executives from AWS, Qualcomm and self-driving car company AutoX will also appear. Lara Dewar, GSMA CMO, also noted the organisation’s Open Gateway initiative will be “key priority” at the event as it tries to increase engagement with the developer community. MWC Shanghai will run from 26 June to 28 June. Follow our coverage of the big event here.
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Nokia continues telco API push with Google tie-up
What happened: Nokia secured a deal to run its Network-as-a-Code platform, a software designed for developers, on Google Cloud as part of a mission to encourage more app creation based on 4G and 5G capabilities.
Why it matters: Nokia positioned the partnership as crucial in promoting the development of apps based on industry use cases to its partner’s developer community. Nokia claimed the pair will initially target the healthcare sector, adding “Google Cloud’s expansive developer community, covering all major industries and geographies, will benefit by having access to standardised 5G network capabilities around the world”.
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