Reuters reports that Huawei has begun talks with Russia about installing the latter’s mobile operating system on its tablets. The report states that about 360000 of Huawei’s tablets will be installing the Russian Aurora OS. These tablets will then be used to conduct the country’s population census next year.
One source states that this step is a pilot project in testing the viability of using Aurora OS on Huawei’s tablets. The OS itself is owned by Rostelecom, Russia’s state telco. It also happens to be the country’s OS, and is not currently in use.
Huawei is currently in discussions with the Russian Ministry of Communications about getting the Aurora OS working in the 360000 tablets by August 2020. The population census itself is to be held in October of the same year.
Huawei has been looking for alternative OS options ever since the US executive order that threatens to cut it off from Google’s Android. The company currently already has HarmonyOS, which it plans to use only once it loses access to Android. It remains to be seen if Aurora OS will be used outside of the census project after its conclusion. If so, it would make for another alternative OS should Huawei really lose access to Android.
(Source: Reuters)
