| Hey, this is Vlad in Tokyo. When the U.S. government came for Huawei Technologies Co., it sent what was once the world's largest smartphone maker into crisis. No more could Huawei rely on Google's Android operating system, the platform that powers virtually every non-iPhone handset. And the company could no longer obtain key chips it needed to compete. What's a former smartphone champion to do? Huawei is attempting a hard pivot from smartphones to consumer electronics and software. That vision got clearer last week when it finally outlined its plans for HarmonyOS, giving observers the most detailed look at the company's roadmap for reinvention. HarmonyOS is ambitious and, if successful, will be unprecedented. The new operating system will be built into a platform that exists across devices, letting them share not just data but also computing power. The system would span everything from phones to vanishingly small wireless earbuds to connected cars. If Huawei convinces enough partners to jump on board, your future electric pickup truck and smartwatch could be running on the same code. Huawei has been working on an operating system for years, and it would have been a fool's errand to try and build another Android or to copy Apple Inc.'s trendsetting iOS. The Shenzhen company doesn't have the app library to compete with them. No one does. But with HarmonyOS, Huawei may have set itself an even bigger challenge: Organizing the world's unruly internet of things. There's a clear use case for this kind of universal operating system. There are plenty of (read: all) smart fridges and washing machines in desperate need of an intuitive interface and utility beyond nice jingles and the occasionally useful alert. I would gladly welcome a frictionless smart home experience where my home's lights, air conditioning and locks would all react swiftly to my commands and over time learn to predict my needs. But can Huawei summon the magic to conjure all of that up? Setting aside the barriers still posed by U.S. sanctions, the essential, maybe defining, feature of tech ecosystems is that they take time to build. Google and Apple have been developing their versions of a connected home network for years and neither has perfected it. The American tech giants' products for the home don't come close to the refinement they offer on phones. And still, both are much closer to an appealing and coherent consumer offering than Huawei. Unlike its rivals, Huawei is essentially starting from scratch as it attempts to leapfrog the mobile industry's incumbents. I'm skeptical that Huawei will be able to realize those dreams. But if it does, I'll be glad to have my smart devices finally get less dumb.—Vlad Savov | 
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