Huawei has begun offering a beta version of its Harmony OS 2.0 SDK to developers of large-size display devices, wearables and head-mounted units and will also make it available to smartphone developers in December 2020, according to the company.

Huawei showcased its homegrown mobile platform, the Harmony 2.0 OS, along with its next-generation HMI (human-machine interface) EMUI 11 and HMS (Huawei Mobile Service) at the recently concluded Huawei Developer Conference 2020.

Market observers believe that Huawei's move is a countermeasure against the US trade ban on its using Google Mobile Service (GMS), and it aims to mitigate the impacts by building an ecosystem optimizing third-party resources via its in-house-developed OS, apps and related market solutions.

The HarmonyOS 2 update was released on June 2 for over 100 device models, including smartphones and tablets. A week later, about 10 million users downloaded it, and on July 8, the number of those who downloaded the update increased to 30 million.On September 12, three months after the launch, the number of users who installed the HarmonyOS 2 update was 100 million.

“This is an important figure and a new stage in our work. We are grateful to buyers and partners for their support! HarmonyOS provides users with intuitive connectivity, an enhanced user experience, and convenient multi-device services depending on specific scenarios. Together with partners, Huawei is building an open, accessible and secure smart ecosystem for shared success, making HarmonyOS the core operating system in the Internet of Everything era, ”said Richard Yu, CEO and CEO of the Consumer Business Group.