Android and iOS have consumed too massive a share of the global market for mobile operating systems, relegating Microsoft's Windows Phone and Samsung's Tizen to the sidelines, according to Huawei's chief of consumer business.
Samsung has installed Tizen, its open-source operating system, on smartphones, TVs and smart watches. But Samsung, the world's leading smartphone manufacturer, has struggled to convince other mobile device producers to take a chance on its Tizen OS.
Huawei Chief Richard Yu told the Wall Street Journal his company, China's third-largest smartphone manufacturer, worries about Android's dominance, but said Huawei and Google work well together.
"We feel Tizen has no chance to be successful," said Yu. "Even for Windows Phone, it's difficult to be successful. We have no plans to build our own OS. It's easy to design a new OS, but the problem is building the ecosystem around it."
Another reason Huawei may refuse to support Samsung's Tizen is the pair are rivals, with the whole of China laid out as their primary field of battle. With Chinese hardware manufacturer Xiaomi rising to the top spot in China, the world's largest mobile market, and steadily expanding, Yu said the landscape is too crowded.
"There are too many smartphone makers in the market, especially in China," Yu said. "The whole industry is consolidating and some global vendors are disappearing. But even though most vendors are suffering, Huawei is growing, not only in terms of shipments and revenue, but also profit."
Back in March 2013, Huawei CEO Wan Biao said his company wanted to play a major role in supporting the Windows Phone OS. He expressed hope that Microsoft's mobile OS would gain widespread acceptance in China, Russia and Africa before gaining a footing in Europe.
"For us all the focus is on Android, but we will also try Windows," Biao said. "Right now, the sales are good, but it's pretty hard to predict Windows Phone. For one OS -- Android -- the consumers have spent time and their money to like it. We developed Windows 8 because we do believe some consumers will like it."
A year later, that hope has faded and Yu said customer simply aren't biting on Windows Phone.
"We have tried using the Windows Phone OS. But it has been difficult to persuade consumers to buy a Windows phone," Yu said.
During the second quarter of 2014, the Android OS accounted for an 84.7 percent share of the mobile OS market and iOS tallied an 11.7 percent slice, according to IDC's market share report. Windows Phone had a 2.5 percent hold, BlackBerry accounted for 0.5 percent of the market and Tizen's share was mixed in with the 0.7 percent sliver the remaining mobile OSes held.
