Huawei recently announced that its new smartphones will be pre-installed with the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem, which is an alternative to consumers.

“We want to ensure that our users will have a familiar and seamless experience when using their smartphones,” said Likun Zhao, vice president of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, Middle East & Africa. “We need to keep offering a premium user experience if we want to be the preferred brand. Huawei’s success is due to our user-centric approach in everything we do. We have been working on the development of HMS for quite a while and we are now satisfied that it is an interface that our users will recognise and find easy to navigate.”

What is HMS?

HMS is a collection of applications and application programming interfaces (APIs). HMS Core consists of certain kits that can be used by developers to create apps, which can then be added to the Huawei AppGallery.

HMS Core currently consists of the following features:

Account Kit: Users are able to create a Huawei account that they can use to log into different HMS apps and services.
Location Kit: This uses location data derived from GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and network base stations to calculate device location.
Map Kit: The Map Kit can be used by developers to create personalised maps with multi-interaction modes.
Drive Kit: This is a storage solution, where users can store their pictures, videos and documents.
Game Service: This tracks player achievements in the games that they play. In addition to this, this service can also be used by developers to offer in-game rewards to users.
Push Kit: This serves the purpose of cloud messaging. Developers can use this kit to send personalised messages or push notifications to users.
Analytics Kit: Developers with apps on HMS can use this service to collect and analyse data using various metrics. This service also allows developers to debug their services.
In-App purchases: Developers can monetise their apps through product management services, order services and subscription services.
Ad Kit: This kit ensures that users will see ads relevant to their interests. At the same time, developers can earn some income from these ads.

Additional Kits will be released on an ongoing basis.

“Huawei is excited to introduce HMS to consumers as it is an ecosystem focused on the user experience,” said Zhao. “Huawei devices are popular precisely because of their exceptional performance and robust mobile service experience, and HMS is an extension of this. Based on recent developments, the scale of the HMS ecosystem is greatly expanding, particularly in terms of our commitment to working with developers to join the HMS ecosystem and distribute their apps on the Huawei AppGallery. Together we will bring a better digital life experience to consumers all around the world.”

App developers with a completed app can visit developer.huawei.com, or contact the Huawei South Africa business development team on [email protected] to find out how Huawei can support them.