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Google suspends some business with Huawei

reuters.com

311–320 of 506 posts

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#311

I wonder if this will be the catalyst for foreign companies to stop using US technology. For everything that the US has done to other countries over the years, US tech companies have somewhat maintained their independence. Now that US companies are being compelled to not sell to various Chinese companies, it could be a wake-up call to the rest of the world that US companies are now simply another arm of the US govern…

These rules don't make US companies "another arm of the US government". US companies can (and do!) push back against the US government, through the courts, political parties, and ultimately elections.

Chinese companies, on the other hand, have no such recourse against their government.

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#312
post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American I'd much rather the USA has my data than China has it.

Maybe. I'd prefer that neither of them have my data. I do believe that competition limits the exploits. If there's an alternative, you have to fear losing your customers (and their money), so you limit what you do to them. If there isn't any, why would you? Right now, the competition is basically only Apple vs Google. Both USA, both from California. A bit more diversity would be nice.

I agree with that. I'm proud to have worked on FirefoxOS as part of an effort to create such competition! (Which is still going on with KaiOS.)

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#313
post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nations I'm not sure but it will for sure impact strategy at all companies of all sizes from large multi-national corporates down to bootstrapped startups like my own.

How does it affect your company?

I'd rather not go too deep into it but if America suddenly changes it's approach to the market as it looks to be doing it's a massive risk to rely on services from any American companies (through no fault of the companies in question).

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#314
post #301
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What most people forget is that in a war the other party shoots back. It may take some time but it will happen and sometimes when you do not expect it. I think that Trump's move with banning Huawei is bad for the US in the mid and long run.

sometimes whoever shots first wins

I’m not betting on US, pun intended.

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#315
post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is China so likely to bug the phone but the NSA isn't?

Even if the NSA backdoors phones, you have to consider which government you trust more. The US government isn't great but China's is far worse.

I'm European with a huawei phone and I don't trust either side a lot, but it's the US gov. who spied on my country's officials from their own embassy a few years ago and it always seems to be the American gov. that somehow ends up bullying someone around.

I don't pretend that the Chinese have any better intentions but they're long term greedy enough to not accidentally brick my phone because Google can't ship updates to it any more.

If I actually lose functionality on my phone because the US government pressures Google into doing things that affects European consumers I'll be pretty pissed.

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#317
post #235

I think this creates a nationalistic retaliation -- "We don't need America. We can do it ourselves, and better."

Not only from China.

I expect the other Asian powers and Europe to be sitting up and paying keen attention to these events. Too many of the world's vital technologies are beholden to the US government's interests, interests that may swing one way or the other every few years depending on what the presiding ideology is. In a space as important and all-pervading as internet-enabled smartphones, both parties of the global duopoly of Apple-Android are headquartered in the US, with China playing the crucial role of hosting the world's factories.

I hope this triggers a move towards more decentralization of smartphone infrastructure (and the internet in general), hardware to software.

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#318

Sad to see as they make some compelling phones with outrageously great prices[0]. I used to think about the privacy problems with buying a chinese phone but this day and age where facebook is selling your data to the highest bidder and the fusion centers crawling all over our cellphone - who cares? I'd rather have the chinese have my data than the US companies/gov't(only because I will never visit their country), tho…

The outrageously great prices comment got me thinking about all the IP theft allegations [0]. I wonder if the relatively lower prices are a reflection of the reduced R&D overhead compared to other companies that would otherwise need to recover that initial investment.

[0]:https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-theft-bonus-program-...

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#319
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sometimes whoever shots first wins

I’m not betting on US, pun intended.

Anything to substantiate that? Or do you mean "not betting" in the sense that you have no insight into either side being an obvious winner?

Re: Google suspends some business with Huawei

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger issue is that the nature of smart phone releases is that each time you want to bring out a new model, you need to employ a few tens of thousands of people for a relatively short time to assemble them. This isn't possible in most countries due to labour laws and/or shortage of workers.

tesla is starting to automate car manufacturing and seems to be making progress. can you comment on the feasibility on automating smartphone manufacturing? do elements of smartphone manufacturing render automation intractable, or harder than car manufacturing?

As I understand it, the majority of individual smartphone components would be manufactured using automation, and the primary step that takes place in Shenzhen is someone physically putting all the pieces together. I couldn't make an informed comment on the feasibility or cost effectiveness of trying to automate this process as well (I'd guess it's fairly low due to the relative uniqueness of each phone model) but maybe someone else can.

And Tesla is well behind the major car manufacturers in using automation.

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