Johannesburg, 25 Jun 2020
HUAWEI has announced it has chosen to enlist the services of SovTech, a custom software development company, to assist with refiguring the core services of some of South Africa’s most used mobile apps to be able to function fully on its mobile ecosystem – HUAWEI Mobile Services (HMS).
The partnership, which commenced in May 2020, entails SovTech assisting HUAWEI’s local app partners, such as Travelstart, to migrate onto HUAWEI’s app distribution platform, HUAWEI AppGallery, and adding HMS core services on more than 40 apps. HUAWEI AppGallery has generated over 350 billion app downloads globally since launching in April 2018.
“SovTech is responsible for developing a new Android Package File (APK) that would work on the HUAWEI AppGallery using only HMS integration kits. HUAWEI is focusing on a lot of research and development and will really challenge the status quo in terms of what we are used to in the space of mobile services offerings,” says Luke Hunt, Director of Product Advance, at SovTech's app division.
To kick off the partnership with HUAWEI, SovTech had a code share agreement with Travelstart, using it as a proof of concept to demonstrate their capability to re-jig and replace all of the core services with HMS. SovTech integrated Travelstart’s Flapp app with HMS in order to make it easy for HUAWEI users to search, compare and book the best deals on flights, hotels and cars for business and leisure travel.
“Being partnered with HUAWEI marks a significant milestone for us. HUAWEI has got a huge global brand and reach, which is strategically important for SovTech. With just eight years in operation, SovTech has been growing rapidly year on year to now operate cross-continentally from Johannesburg, Cape Town, London and Dubai. This partnership will surely open up great opportunities for us,” adds Hunt.
Likun Zhao, Vice-President of HUAWEI Consumer Business Group, Middle East & Africa, comments: “HUAWEI is excited to partner with SovTech. We have entrusted the software development company as a tech partner to help HUAWEI to readjust the architecture of South Africa’s most popular apps to be compatible with HMS. Our goal is to ensure that our HUAWEI device users have access to all the best apps they need, to address almost every life need.”
With HMS having fully replaced all the application programming interfaces (APIs) and features of other prior mobile services on HUAWEI devices, a lot of developers and companies in South Africa are seeing the value in customising their apps for HMS in order to expand their market reach and ultimately the monetisation of their developed apps.
SovTech commends the fact that HUAWEI provides third-party developers with tools and services to create their own apps. In addition to the partnership, SovTech is lined up to judge the upcoming HUAWEI AppUp competition commencing on the 30 June 2020, which is aimed at providing a platform for local developers looking to innovate, build and integrate apps on the HUAWEI AppGallery.
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