Huawei has reached an agreement with MapMyIndia to use the Move app as a substitute to Google Maps in India. The online navigation app will be added to Huawei’s AppGallery and will be baked into Honor and Huawei phones launching in the future.
The Move app, which is a property of MapMyIndia, already has 1 million+ downloads in India on the Google Play Store and is also available on iOS. In addition to high precision maps, the app will offer features like high definition 3D, house and building-level detail, superimposed with live traffic and safety information as well. Real-time traffic updates, voice navigation, and AR, are some of the distinguishing features of the app.
Commenting on this, Charles Peng, President, Honor and Huawei India Consumer Business Group, said, “We at HONOR and Huawei believe in empowering our consumers with ground-breaking innovations that make their smartphone journey more worthwhile and meaningful. We are proud to announce our liaison with India’s dedicated and leading digital map provider, MapmyIndia.”
Huawei has been continuously pushing its AppGallery in a bid to make it a relevant alternative to Google’s Play Store. Since new Huawei smartphones no longer come with Google services, there are huge gaps in Huawei’s ecosystem that must be filled with other non-Google alternatives.
The company also partnered with Hungama which is an India-based music and video streaming service. Such partnerships will be vital for its new AppGallery ecosystem. The AppGallery is currently live in more than 170 nations with 400 million active users and Huawei is working towards bringing more apps to the platform.
Huawei and Honor have not announced any new smartphone in India for quite a while but these developments tell us that the Chinese giant is indeed keen with the Indian market. Both the brands have launched their flagships, the Huawei P40 series and the Honor 30 series, in neighbouring China. Indus OS App Bazaar could save Huawei’s app concerns in India
