You read the title correct all right. Huawei has just launched LiteOS, an operating system for the age of the Internet of Things that is only 10KB in size. According to the company, it wants to “provide the connections, not the devices” with LiteOS.
Huawei made it very clear that LiteOS isn’t meant to compete with Android or even iOS. Instead, it will be used to power a range of gadgets. William Xu, Huawei’s head of strategy and marketing, gave an electric toothbrush as an example. He said a connected toothbrush would be able to “record how often and how effectively you brush your teeth, and could tell you when to do it and how to do it better.”
While this may seem like a rather odd example, LiteOS can potentially contribute immensely to the Internet of Things. Huawei mentioned that the OS would be opened to all developers, although it’s not certain if it will be truly open-source. The company also elaborated that LiteOS can be “widely applied to different areas including smart homes, wearables, connected vehicles and other industries.”
More and more companies seem to be fired up for the Internet of Things. Samsung, for example, has announced the Artik platform in preparation for it. Perhaps we’d see the platform used alongside LiteOS? Only time will tell.
