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Chinese companies ramp up recruitment amid Huawei's move towards native HarmonyOS

Jingyue Hsiao, DIGITIMES Asia, Taipei 0

Credit: AFP

Less than a month after an announcement that said Huawei is looking to launch native HarmonyOS in 2024, Chinese internet companies are eager to recruit developers for the OS to ditch Android app support.

According to Yicai and South China Morning Post, China-based firms, including Meituan, JD.com, and NetEase, are recruiting talents related to HarmonyOS. Meituan offers a monthly salary for app developers of CNY40,000-60,000 (US$5,500 to US$8,200) for those with HarmonyOS experience who can contribute to R&D projects built on existing technological infrastructure. Meanwhile, JD.com and NetEase are actively seeking developers, specifically for creating apps intended for Huawei's smartphones, as indicated by the postings on the respective job sites.

In late September, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group and chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solution business unit, said that Huawei is developing the HarmonyOS Next and Harmony OS native applications will be launched with the new OS, signifying a move to ditch supports for Android applications as soon as in 2024.

As Huawei is developing a native OS ecosystem independent of Android, some companies have begun developing HarmonyOS versions of their apps, including LY.com and BabyBus, reports Yicai.

Huawei data shows that as of August, the number of HarmonyOS ecosystem devices has exceeded 700 million, with 2.2 million developers actively engaged in HarmonyOS ecosystem development. As of October 30, the number of devices upgraded to HarmonyOS 4 has surpassed 100 million. Huawei unveiled the HarmonyOS in August 2019 after the White House added it to the entity list.