Google revives Huawei work temporarily after US eases restrictions
The move comes after the US announced a 90-day license to allow mobile companies to figure out more long term solutions.
Google will continue to work with Huawei for now.
Google said Tuesday it will continue working with Huawei for 90 days, after the US government announced it's temporarily scaling back trade restrictions on the Chinese smartphone maker.
On Monday, the US Commerce Department said it's creating a general license that for now lets Huawei keep existing networks and issue updates to its phones and tablets . The reprieve is meant to give US companies time to figure out longer-term solutions and to protect consumers from security risks. The license expires on August 19.
"Keeping phones up to date and secure is in everyone's best interests and this temporary license allows us to continue to provide software updates and security patches to existing models for the next 90 days," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Huawei didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google's decision not to cut ties with Huawei, the second largest smartphone company in the world, is a reversal of plans it announced earlier this week after the Trump administration effectively banned Huawei from the US, restricting the company's access to US components and software.
For Google, that meant suspending some business with Huawei, a key partner for its Android mobile operating system. Google reportedly said that it would stop providing Huawei with customer support and that upcoming versions of Huawei's phones outside China would no longer get access to Google's Play Store app marketplace and its marquee slate of services, including YouTube and Google Maps . Huawei, though, would still have access to the open-source version of Android without Google services.
It's unclear what Google will do after the 90-day license expires.
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