March 5: Huawei has launched its own App Gallery as the Chinese technology giant fights back against the ban imposed by the USA last year.

The company, which faces accusation of security risk from the US, said in a statement that it launched the new app with the motive to build a secure and reliable mobile apps ecosystem.

“Our vision is to make Huawei App Gallery an open, innovative app distribution platform easily accessible to all our customers. Besides, we aim to strictly protect users’ privacy and security while providing them with a unique and smart experience,” Huawei said in a statement.

Huawei said its AppGallery is now available in over 170 countries/regions with 400 million monthly active users, covering mainstream apps and services worldwide.

 “Privacy, under your control has always been at the heart of our philosophy,” Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group commented during the launching ceremony. He additionally affirmed that privacy protection and cyber security is the top-most priorities of Huwawei’s business operations.

“We will strictly implement them in all phases of our products. We also have the strictest privacy and cyber security solutions in Huawei AppGallery,” he said.

Huawei has hundreds of millions of users worldwide, laying a solid foundation for the development of the ecosystem. Together with HMS Core, which opens a variety of Huawei software and hardware capabilities, Huawei is en-route to providing the best and innovative application experience for its users.

In a statement the company informed that its AppGallery deploys the highest level of verification to isolate and protect users’ sensitive data and privacy. Personally-sensitive information – such as biometric data – will never be processed outside the Huawei device, giving the user complete control over their personal data, the statement added.

The US had passed a bill at the end of 2018 preventing the federal government and its agencies from doing business with the Chinese technology giant, Huawei.

The Newstatesman reported that the company, along with several dozen subsidiaries and affiliates, was added to the US’s “entity list” in 2019, severely restricting US companies’ ability to do business with one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment firms.

According to the BBC, US telecommunications regulators declared Huawei and ZTE national security threats in November.

Reuters reported that US President Donald Trump did not want to do business with Huawei “at all” due to “national security concerns.”

However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in Britain’s 5G mobile network in late January, frustrating a global attempt by the United States to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West’s next-generation communications.

A British official, according to Reuters, said excluding Huawei would have delayed 5G and cost consumers more, echoing warnings from the telecoms industry.

Britain’s move vindicated the fact that 5G’s much faster data speeds and increased capacity will make it the foundation stone of many industries and a driver of economic growth.

“In what some have compared to the Cold War antagonism with the Soviet Union, the United States is worried that 5G dominance is a milestone towards Chinese technological supremacy that could define the geopolitics of the 21st century,” Reuters reported.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, has said the United States wants to frustrate its growth because no US company could offer the same range of technology at a competitive price.