Enterprise
Huawei exec arrested in Poland for spying
Huawei’s troubles continue
New year, new you? Despite the new year, Huawei can’t move on from its tempestuous 2018. Last year, the Chinese company ran into a flurry of legal troubles across the globe. For one, the American government seeks to ban the company from its soil. Similarly, affiliated countries have joined in on the act. At the end of last year, Huawei was still reeling from potential and realized bans worldwide.
Now, add Poland to that list.
Recently, the Polish government arrested a high-ranking Huawei official. The official, Weijing Wang, is a Chinese citizen. He was arrested alongside a former high-ranking officer at Poland’s Internal Security Agency.
According to Polish officials, both detainees are accused of spying for the Chinese government. They will be detained for at least three months, facing potentially ten years in prison if found guilty.
In a statement, Huawei confirms that the company is “aware of the situation, and [they] are looking into it.” For the Chinese company, the arrest isn’t anything new. Late last year, Huawei’s chief finance officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Vancouver. (She has since been released on bail.) The recent arrest is another strain on the global trade war against China.
On the other hand, the Chinese government has also shared concerns over the arrest. China will also investigate the issue in due time.
Regardless, it’s not a good start to Huawei’s 2019. The company is still dealing with the fallout from its troubles last year.
If anything, Huawei enjoys success elsewhere. Last year, the company overtook Apple as the second-most valuable smartphone brand in the world. It will also launch heavily anticipated successors to last year’s successful P20 and Mate 20 series.
For the longest time, Google kept Pixel and Android behind two different teams. While the Pixel team dealt with devices made by and for the brand, the Android team ships a product meant for brands outside of the company’s purview. However, the days of separation are at an end. Google is officially merging its Pixel and Android teams together.
In a shocking announcement, the company has confirmed that the teams handling hardware and software will fall under a single team headed by Rick Osterloh. Prior to the merge, Osterloh was the senior vice president of devices and service, which was Google’s hardware branch. He will now oversee both hardware and software.
Because of the new leadership change, Hiroshi Lockheimer, former head of Android, will now move on to other projects within Alphabet. Of note, the change is not harsh for Lockheimer. He and Osterloh had been contemplating on the merge for a while.
Now, why the change? As is the case with everything today, it’s all because of AI. Speaking to The Verge, Osterloh explains that the merge will help with “full-stack innovation.” With how technology is these days, it’s now impossible to develop AI without having a close eye on hardware, such as in Google’s AI developments for the Pixel camera. Merging the teams will help streamline development, especially when hardware is involved.
Despite the change, outside brands, like Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, remains confident of Android’s capabilities outside of Google. Just expect more AI coming out in the near future.
The ongoing trade war between the United States and China is putting a lot of companies out of business in one country. While all eyes are currently on America’s crusade against TikTok, China has launched a salvo of its own. The country has started banning AMD and Intel, starting with government devices.
Recently, as reported by the Financial Times, China has introduced a new rule that bans American chipsets and servers from government agencies. The new ban includes AMD, Intel, and Microsoft Windows.
In lieu of the now-banned brands, Chinese government agencies must use approved brands from a list of 18 Chinese manufacturers. Unsurprisingly, the list includes Huawei, another brand involved in the ongoing trade war. (Huawei is still banned on American soil.)
As with bans from America, China’s latest rules stem from a desire to implement national security. Both countries allege that using brands from the opposing side will open a potential avenue for transferring classified information.
Currently, the ban against the American chipsets are only affecting government devices. However, if it follows the same trajectory as Huawei and TikTok in the United States, a government-only ban might soon lead to an all-out ban on consumer devices. As TikTok is currently hanging in the balance, it’s unlikely that the trade wars will cool down anytime soon.
So far, Apple’s greatest enemy has been the European Union. Months and months of claiming that the company engages in anti-competitive practices, the region has successfully caused Apple to drastically change a lot of things about the iPhone including the Lightning cable. Now, a new challenger wants Apple to answer for its supposed grip on the industry: the United States government.
Today, the Department of Justice is officially suing Apple for supposedly monopolizing the smartphone industry and stifling competition. The lawsuit alleges that Apple’s lineup of products prevent users from trying out other brands. For example, Apple limits how well a third-party smartwatch works on an iPhone, pushing users to go for an Apple Watch instead.
The lawsuit also includes an important pain point in Apple’s fight in Europe. It says that the company makes it difficult for iPhone users to communicate with Android users (and vice versa). Late last year, the company already committed to supporting RCS as a messaging standard, finally easing communication between the two systems. Their adoption has yet to arrive, though.
Though not as stringent as Europe, the American government is no slouch when it comes to questioning its own companies for pursuing anti-competitive practices. In the past, it went through Google and Spotify to protect the interests of its citizens. The lawsuit against Apple is no different, gathering signatures from sixteen states.
For Apple’s part, the company aims to get the case dismissed, alleging the lawsuit’s unfair scope of just the American people when it targets the entire world.
SEE ALSO: Apple opens first Developer Center in Southeast Asia
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