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Solar Philippines targets 1 GW in projects next year

SOLAR PHILIPPINES plans to build over 1 gigawatt (GW) of projects in Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac next year, in a bid to boost the country’s installed solar capacity, the company said on Wednesday.

These ventures would represent the first, second and third largest solar projects in the Philippines, the company said, citing data from the Energy department.

These projects will “nearly double the country’s total installed solar capacity as of 2020, and answer the power demand of around 10 million Filipinos,” Solar Philippines said.

“The 1 GW of solar projects are planned to create over 20,000 jobs during construction, which will last until 2022, and support government efforts to boost investments in the countryside,” the firm added.

Solar Philippines said it is currently on-boarding partners and professionals to help out in its projects in line with its new strategic direction, as seen in its Batangas and Tarlac solar farms.  — Angelica Y. Yang

Century Pacific extends contract with Vita Coco

FOOD manufacturer Century Pacific Food, Inc. (CNPF) has extended its long-term agreement with coconut water brand Vita Coco.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday, the company said its $165-million multi-year contract as the original equipment manufacturer for Vita Coco will strengthen its position as a top coconut water exporter.

“The extension of our long term agreement with the global leader in packaged coconut water is proof positive that both parties are fully confident that, together, we will continue on the growth trajectory we have seen over the last few years into the foreseeable future,” CNPF Vice President and general manager for coconut business Noel M. Tempongko, Jr. said.

CNPF Executive Chairman Christopher T. Po added that the long-term agreement with Vita Coco will bode well for the company as it assists in creating value for the said fruit.

“For CNPF, our growing presence in the global coconut market is in line with our long-term vision of a diversified portfolio of shelf-stable food and beverage products,” Mr. Po said.

“We will continue to leverage on our manufacturing expertise to capitalize on emerging global trends, particularly towards health and wellness products,” he added.

The company said its extended deal with Vita Coco is projected to benefit coconut farmers in Mindanao as they are assured of market access for their produce over the next few years, thus increasing their income.

CNPF recently partnered with non-profit organization Friends for Hope for the annual donation of 100,000 coconut seedlings in the next five to eight years to smallholder coconut farmers that will replace senile trees in Mindanao.

“In addition to supporting farmer incomes and expanding long-term coconut supply in the region, planting the coconut trees will sequester about 416,680 metric tons (MT) of greenhouse gas emissions over the next eight years, allowing the company’s coconut subsidiary aims to be ‘carbon-neutral’ by 2028,” the company said.

The company earlier invested P300 million for the improvement of its coconut manufacturing capacity in order to keep up with international demand for high-value coconut products.

Shares of CNPF rose 2.17% or 38 centavos to end at P17.90 apiece on Wednesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

LIMA Estate to be expanded

ABOITIZ GROUP’S Lima Land, Inc. will expand its Batangas estate to bring in more industrial locators and create around 20,000 jobs.

Lima Land plans to develop over 100 hectares of its 700-hectare LIMA Estate for new locators and redevelop its 30-hectare business district to house new commercial lots, outsourcing companies, and office buildings, Aboitiz said in a press release on Wednesday.

The developer also plans to accommodate dormitories, schools, hospitals, hotels, and civic centers in the business district.

Lima Land plans to complete the expansion by the third quarter of 2022.

Aboitiz Integrated Economic Centers First Vice President Rafael Fernandez De Mesa said the company is developing the area into a smart city with digital infrastructure.

“A smart city in Calabarzon opens up a new wave of opportunities, with data at the forefront of improved operations across the city,” he said.

The LIMA Technology Center economic zone has 124 domestic and international locators employing 55,000 people. Aboitiz Group developed the area into a mixed-use estate after acquiring it in 2014.

The company added that metal processing business Philippines TRC Incorporated will be expanding its LIMA-based facilities next year, and Japanese wire harness manufacturer Leading Co. Ltd. will start building facilities in December 2021 to start operating by March of the next year.

“We have been speaking to several potential locators for all of our Integrated Economic Centers throughout the lockdown, and what makes LIMA a great investment is its existing, fully established ecosystem already in place,” Aboitiz Integrated Economic Centers Vice President for Business Development Eduardo Aboitiz said.

Aboitiz Group’s listed holding company, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV), posted a 55% income decline to P4 billion in the first semester.

Shares in AEV went up P1 or 2.23% to end at P45.75 apiece on Wednesday. — Jenina P. Ibañez

US cybersecurity firm FireEye discloses breach, theft of tools

FIREEYE, one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the United States (US), said on Tuesday that it had been hacked, likely by a government, and that an arsenal of hacking tools used to test the defenses of its clients had been stolen.

The hack of FireEye, a company with an array of contracts across the national security space both in the United States and its allies, is among the most significant breaches in recent memory. The company’s shares dropped 8% in after-hours trading.

The FireEye breach was disclosed in a public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission citing CEO Kevin Mandia. A blog post by the company said “red team tools” were stolen as part of a highly sophisticated, likely government-backed hacking operation that used previously unseen techniques.

It is not clear exactly when the hack initially took place, but a person familiar with the events said the company has been resetting user passwords over the past two weeks.

Beyond the tool theft, the hackers also appeared to be interested in a subset of FireEye customers: government agencies.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, said he would ask for more information. “We have asked the relevant intelligence agencies to brief the Committee in the coming days about this attack, any vulnerabilities that may arise from it, and actions to mitigate the impacts.”

There is no evidence that FireEye’s hacking tools have been used or that client data was stolen. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Microsoft Corp are helping to look.

“The FBI is investigating the incident and preliminary indications show an actor with a high level of sophistication consistent with a nation state,” said Matt Gorham, assistant FBI director for the Cyber Division.

A former Defense Department official familiar with the case said that Russia was high on the early list of suspects. In the run-up to the US elections, where Russian interference was a prime concern, US officials exposed some Russian hacking techniques.

Other security companies have been successfully hacked before, including Bit9, Kaspersky Lab, and RSA, underscoring the difficulty in keeping anything digital away from the most sophisticated hackers.

“Plenty of similar companies have also been popped like this,” said a Western security official who asked not to be named.

“The goal of these operations is typically to collect valuable intelligence that can help them defeat security countermeasures and enable hacking of organizations all over the world,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and former chief technology officer at top rival CrowdStrike.

FireEye disclosing what happened and which tools were taken is “helping to minimize the chances of others getting compromised as a result of this breach.”

FireEye said it has been working to shore up defenses against its own tools with different software makers, and it released countermeasures publicly.

Those showed that the tools uses modified versions of public programs, said Vincent Liu, chief executive of security firm Bishop Fox and a former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst.

The stolen computer kit targets a myriad of different vulnerabilities in popular software products.

FireEye CEO Mandia wrote that none of the red team tools exploited so-called “zero-day vulnerabilities,” meaning the relevant flaws should already be public.

Past hacking attacks on government agencies and contractors have captured such higher-value hacking tools, and some of those tools have been published, wrecking their effectiveness as defenses are put in place.

Both the NSA and CIA have been burned this way in the past decade, with Russia a key suspect. Russian and Iranian tools have been hacked and published more recently. Private surveillance software makers have also been targeted.

Experts said it is hard to estimate the impact of a tool leak that focuses on known software vulnerabilities, but it could make attackers’ jobs easier.

“Exploitation tools in the wrong hands will lead to more victimization of people who don’t see it coming, and there’s already enough problems like that,” said Paul Ferguson, threat intelligence principal at security company Gigamon. “We don’t really need more exploitation tools floating around making it easier — look at ransomware.”

Whenever private companies learn of a vulnerability in their software products, they often offer a “patch” or upgrade that nullifies the issue. But many users do not install these patches at once, and some do not for months or longer. — Reuters

Keeping things simpol

Chef Tatung Sarthou’s new cookbook asserts anyone can cook

CELEBRITY chef and YouTuber Michael Glovan “Tatung” Sarthou is bringing to book form his simpol (“simple”) recipes which are meant to show that anyone can cook.

Titled Simpol, the cookbook takes its name from Mr. Sarthou’s online cooking show on YouTube which currently has over 1 million subscribers.

The book has over 101 recipes that are said to be “easily executed using simple, familiar ingredients,” and are a combination of Filipino recipes alongside international recipes such as Swedish meatballs and Taiwanese-style breaded porkchop.

A cursory look at the cookbook shows an organized table of contents categorized by the main ingredient: chicken, pork, beef, vegetable, seafood, and rice and noodle.

What it offers are “simple, practical, and doable recipes that will empower one to cook with confidence,” said the book’s foreword.

And indeed, while there are some recipes intended for someone who has a bit of experience in the kitchen, there are recipes that can easily be done by someone who might not have even know how to cook — like the Simpol Crispy Pork Belly that, in a nutshell, only requires the cook to marinade a pork belly slab in vinegar and salt and put the meat in a pot of cold cooking oil and letting it cook at medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour.

Each recipe has a QR link for a video version for people who want to see how it’s done.

Ingredients for each recipe are categorized into sets (Set A, Set B, etc.) to show which ingredients are needed for prep and which for actual active cooking.

Owing to Mr. Sarthou’s Cebuano roots, several recipes are Cebuano in origin such as Pork humba though there are also regional Filipino dishes such as the Ilocano poqui-poqui (a vegetable dish that includes tomatoes and eggplant) and the Visayas and Mindanao favorite Sinuglaw (a combination of grilled meat and ceviche or kinilaw).

The recipes are said to have been “perfected and catalogued” by Mr. Sarthou over the years.

Simpol: The Cookbook is available on the ABS-CBN Books’ Lazada and Shopee stores for P350. The book was made in partnership with NutriAsia. — Zsarlene B. Chua    

Jollibee opens third store in the United Kingdom

JOLLIBEE FOODS Corp. (JFC) has opened its third store in the United Kingdom as part of the company’s plans to expand its global footprint.

In a statement on Wednesday, JFC said the new store is located at Leicester City and is the second branch opening in the United Kingdom in a span of two months.

“Everywhere, our world-famous Chickenjoy has always been met with excitement and we’re happy to see that Leicester City is no exception,” Dennis Flores, JFC President for Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia said in the statement.

“What is amazing with this opening is that 40% of the customers were locals from Leicester when usually almost all of the customers during the first weeks are Filipinos as they are already familiar with Jollibee,” he added.

JFC has two other stores in the United Kingdom, one in Liverpool and another in Kensington, London.

Mr. Flores said the initial sales of the Leicester City branch has exceeded the company’s projections by double digits and even surpassed sales during its Liverpool store’s opening.

“This is a good indication that our strategy to make Jollibee appeal to the mainstream market is working — allowing us to widen our customer base,” Mr. Flores said.

As of date, JFC said it has over 1,400 stores around the world, adding it plans to open 50 stores in Europe within the next five years.

The company posted a P1.58 billion net loss in the third quarter due to weaker sales resulting from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Its revenues during the July to September period fell 31% year on year to P29.97 billion

On Wednesday, shares of JFC rose 0.77% or P1.60 to end at P210.60 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Term deposit yields slip on RRR cut bets

YIELDS ON term deposits offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday inched down amid higher bids and expectations of a possible reduction in banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR).

Demand for the central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) hit P644.806 billion on Wednesday, surpassing the P490 billion up for grabs as well as the P608.416 billion in tenders seen in the previous auction.

Broken down, bids for the seven-day papers reached P243.555 billion, beyond the P170-billion offering as well as the P208.985 billion in tenders recorded a week ago.

The one-week deposits fetched rates ranging from 1.65% to 1.75%, a narrower band than the 1.615% to 1.78% logged on Dec. 2. This caused the tenor’s average to settle at 1.7218%, lower by 0.74 basis point (bp) from the 1.7292% seen in the previous offering.

Meanwhile, bids for the 14-day papers hit amounted to P401.251 billion, going beyond the P320 billion up for grabs as well as the P399.431 billion in demand logged last week.

Accepted yields fell within 1.65% to 1.7468%, a thinner margin compared with the 1.625% to 1.7625% range seen last week, bringing the two-week paper’s average rate to 1.7191%, down by 0.7 bp from the 1.7261% fetched previously.

The central bank did not offer the 28-day term deposits for the ninth consecutive week. This follows the start of the central bank’s weekly offering of its own bills with the same tenor.

The TDF and the BSP’s securities are part of tools used by the central bank to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market interest rates.

Yields on the term deposits declined as the market is pricing in a possible cut in big banks’ RRR, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said.

The BSP cut big banks’ reserve requirements by 200 bps to 12% earlier this year. The RRR of thrift and rural lenders were likewise lowered by 100 bps to three percent and two percent, respectively.

The Monetary Board authorized RRR cuts of up to 400 bps this year.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has said he wants to cut banks’ RRR further and eventually bring it down to the single-digit level by the end of his term in mid-2023.

The central bank last month resumed its easing cycle, cutting benchmark interest rates anew to support the economy amid continued uncertainty due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and following recent typhoons.

The Monetary Board trimmed the rates on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase, lending, and deposit facilities by 25 bps to 2%, 2.5%, and 1.5%, respectively.

The central bank has already cumulatively lowered interest rates by 200 bps this year.

The Monetary Board will have its last policy meeting for the year on Dec. 17. — L.W.T. Noble

Apple launches $549 new AirPods Max to boost holiday sales

APPLE, INC. on Tuesday unveiled its new AirPods Max, a set of wireless over-ear headphones, at $549 apiece, pricier than some of its other popular phone and tablet products, in a measure aimed at boosting sales over the December holiday period.

The new AirPods, which will have up to 20 hours battery life, will be shipped starting next Tuesday, Apple said. But less than 12 hours after Apple announced the products, shipping times for US customers had stretched past a dozen weeks, according to review of Apple’s website, pushing arrival times well into 2021.

Because over-ear headphones create a seal around the ear, they are capable of delivering higher audio quality than in-ear devices and remain the standard form factor in professional studios. The AirPods Max model will compete with high-end headphones such as Bose’s Noise Cancelling 700 units, which retail for $340 with holiday discounts.

At $549, AirPods Max headphones are more expensive than Apple’s entry-level iPhone, iPad and Watch models. The company also said Tuesday that pricing for its base, in-ear AirPods model and AirPods Pro model would remain the same at $159 and $249, respectively.

The company said the AirPods Max contains nine microphones and two of its H1 chips, Apple’s custom-designed audio processor. The microphones help reduce wind noise on phone calls, provide noise cancellation and also adjust audio levels in real time using microphones inside the ear cups.

The company’s last quarter results showed a rise in sales in its accessories unit, even as revenue from its flagship iPhones dropped 20.7%, the steepest quarterly drop in two years. For the company’s fiscal 2020, accessories sales were up 16% at $53.8 billion, while iPhone sales were down 3% at $137.8 billion.

Apple had launched its newest iPhone range with faster 5G connectivity in October, a month later than its usual September release, due to pandemic-linked delays.

The company also said Apple Fitness+, its $10 per month fitness subscription service, will be launched on Dec. 14. Shares of Peloton Interactive, Inc, which also offers virtual fitness classes, were down 2% in before-market trading. — Reuters

A taste of the South

THE NEGROS region, from where Don Papa gets its sugarcane, always reminded me of the American South: there’s the hot sun, the slower pace of life, an agricultural base, and fanciful stories hidden in every home, at least for some people.

This makes the marriage of rye whiskey and Don Papa Rum make sense for its latest variation, launched on Nov. 20: the Don Papa Rye Aged Rum. This drink is aged in rye barrels, while Don Papa is usually aged in barrels that once held rye’s gentler cousin, bourbon. This expression comes on the heels of previous ones: Rare Cask, Sherry Cask, and Don Papa Sevillana (which was finished in casks that held vino de naranja, Spanish orange liqueur).

A kit containing three bottles was delivered, sealed with a coded padlock. It contained a bottle of Don Papa Rye Aged Rum, as well as two cocktails, the Rum Manhattan (with sweet vermouth, maraschino, and bitters), and Don Creole (absinthe and bitters).

The rum by itself had an aggressive scent with notes of grass, honey, and wildflowers under a hot Southern sun. The first note did have that throaty rye kick as expected, but mellowed down into that ladylike honey and floral note hinted at in the scent. The heat was present as well, reminding one of sunbeams in the way it makes the eyes narrow. It’s like meeting a brash, swearing, smoking, but well-dressed Southern belle in her garden at the height of summer. That’s funny when you consider the masculine elements in its promotion, accompanied by bluegrass musicians during the Zoom press conference. It does go very well with hardwood-smoked beef jerky; perhaps due to their shared woody origins. While it doesn’t sound like I like her, but as I poured a third jigger in a glass, she proved to be good company. The Manhattan tasted like it should — cigar-smoky and cool — but my my, that Don Creole. It had a flirty but clean scent, a bit like jasmine, thanks to the absinthe and bitters, and was sweetly sophisticated. This wouldn’t have been out of place in the hand of a woman like Blanche Dubois.

AJ Garcia, Bleeding Heart Rum Co.’s co-founder discussed the different expressions that they’ve created. “One of the reasons why we do this is because when we started the brand, we started with one product. I think you could easily say that we could’ve sat on that one product, and just focused on that, and be very monolithic,” he said during the launch. “I think it’s always important, especially with the rum industry… to always kind of find different ways to improve the product; find different ways to offer people different experiences.”

Adding a flourish to a product that is already quite good comes from a different place: home. “When you think about rum, through the years, people think of the Carribean, Central America, South America; and then maybe India. But what we want people to know is that the rum-making tradition has been in the Philippines for about 200 years. It’s really been part of our DNA. It’s born out of the sugarcane industry, and this is a sugar-producing country.

“We should be making great rum. That alone motivates us to explore more and more.”

Don Papa Rye Aged Rum is currently available online for delivery through Boozy.ph for P3,399 and Boozeshop.ph for P3,250 and will soon be available in different brick and mortar shops. — Joseph L. Garcia

Phoenix Petroleum to settle P3 billion in commercial papers

Dennis A. Uy-led Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. approved on Wednesday the settlement of P3 billion in outstanding commercial papers issued last year, the firm told the local bourse.

Series C of the firm’s commercial paper program had a tenor of 360 days from its issue date of Dec. 5, 2019. Phoenix Petroleum issued P3 billion in commercial papers at a discount to a face value of 4.6657% per annum.

The firm earlier said it aimed to raise P2.82 billion from the offer to “refinance existing short-term loans in the regulation (and) importation of fuels and lubricants.”

Phoenix Petroleum made the disclosure to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s revised disclosure rules and the Securities Regulation Code.

The company reported a net income of P296 million in the third quarter, reversing its P5-million loss in the second quarter. Overall volume sales climbed by 42% from July to September with the recovery of its local business and relaxed quarantine measures.

Phoenix Petroleum’s shares inched up by 0.47% to close at P12.80 apiece on Wednesday. — Angelica Y. Yang

Double-digit nonperforming loan ratio unlikely

LENDERS are unlikely to see double-digit bad debt ratios despite the coronavirus pandemic, a bank executive said. — FREEPIK

BANKS WILL NOT see a repeat of the double-digit nonperforming loan ratios (NPL) seen during the Asian financial crisis (AFC), with their experiences to differ depending on their credit exposures, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin R. Bautista said on Wednesday.

“We’re not expecting the kind of credit problems that we had during the AFC where the NPLs are in the double digits. I don’t think that’s going to happen this time around,” Mr. Bautista said in a briefing.

The NPL ratio of the banking industry hit 17.6% in the aftermath of the AFC in 2002. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects banks’ NPL ratio to reach 4.6% this year due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on both households and businesses.

Latest central bank data showed the bad loans ratio of the banking system stood at 3.4% as of end-September, the highest since the 3.42% logged in May 2013. This, as soured debt — or credit unpaid for at least 30 days following their due date — surged 60% year on year to P364.672 billion.

Mr. Bautista said December will be a crucial period for lenders as the 60-day mandatory loan moratorium under Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act lapses.

He said banks now have to make sure their clients clearly understood what will happen after the moratorium, which may include restructuring of loans.

UnionBank’s loan loss provisions hit P7.5 billion in the first nine months of the year. However, Mr. Bautista said heightened credit provisioning does not necessarily mean they expect bad loans to go up by too much.

“In our particular case, a large part of our consumer portfolio is teacher loans. Public school teachers did not get laid off. So this sector of the economy will not mirror the experience of the entire economy,” Mr. Bautista said.

Another significant part of UnionBank’s credit book is mortgage loans, where collateral will be high. In this case, Mr. Bautista said borrowers may consider selling the property or asking help from other parties instead of losing their collateral and defaulting on the loan.

The UnionBank chief executive said their portfolio mix did not change that much amid the pandemic.

“Maybe tilted a little bit more on the consumer side and the reason is because some of the big corporates prepaid their long-term loans, taking advantage of the interest rates… As a result, our corporate loan book has been flat,” he said.

Since March, UnionBank has disbursed loans for teachers, motorcycle financing, and small businesses worth 26.1 billion, P3.2 billion, and P2.9 billion, respectively, the official said.

UnionBank’s net earnings in the third quarter jumped 11% year on year to P4.2 billion.

This brought its nine-month net income to P8.5 billion, down 0.9% year on year due to higher loan loss reserves amounting to P7.5 billion in the period amid impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

The Aboitiz-led lender’s shares increased by 0.45% or 30 centavos to close at P67 apiece on Wednesday. — L.W.T. Noble

How useful is Huawei’s new $1,445 phone without Google?

HUAWEI Technologies Co. was on track to become Google’s most prolific Android partner until it was blacklisted by the US government last summer and saw its relationship with the Alphabet, Inc. unit terminated. Now, the Chinese tech giant is trying an alternative strategy to make up for the absence of Google apps and services in its global devices.

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro, tested by Bloomberg News, offers an early indication of what Android smartphones without Google can be. The Shenzhen-based company’s technical chops are impressive, but it’s hard to imagine anyone outside its home country, beyond hardcore enthusiasts, spending well more than $1,000 for a phone without Google Maps or Gmail.

Huawei’s success has been built on its dominance in China, where Google services have long been unavailable. The company has more than 490 million monthly active users for its App Gallery globally, including a music service supported by deals with the major labels. It also has its own alternatives to offerings like the Chrome browser and Google Assistant.

“It helps that Huawei already has a lot of the right pieces in place for the China market, but many things do not necessarily translate from that market to others,” said Anshel Sag, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

The App Gallery, for example, lacks Google basics like Maps and YouTube, along with Facebook, Inc. essentials such as WhatsApp and Instagram. For most consumers, that makes the Mate 40 Pro, which retails for €1,199 ($1,445) in Europe, a non-starter. Its availability in the US is limited.

“It’s fine if you are a bit of a geek and prepared to persevere, but it’s just nowhere near slick enough for mass adoption,” said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight.

To address the absences, Huawei has developed a system for finding installation packages online and also has a cloning utility that will take an existing Android device and copy its apps and data. Still, that’s a lot of work for the premium price.

A RAREFIED CLUB
Discounting outside China could undercut the Mate ​40 Pro’s positioning at home, where it’s a full-featured contender. The 6.7-inch handset has a huge display and battery, wireless charging, advanced multi-camera photography and a bespoke 5nm processor — the only such offering outside of Apple, Inc.’s iPhones so far. It’s the sort of tech leadership that Huawei’s ascent has been built on, outpacing Samsung Electronics Co. in the spec race.​

Still, that leadership is in jeopardy. The latest US sanctions mean Huawei likely won’t have access to key chip suppliers, leaving questions about its ability to power future devices. The company just sold its lower-end Honor brand so that business could try to restore access to US technology.

For now, the company’s making the best of its situation by working to attract app developers with lower fees and better exposure on its App Gallery. Huawei takes a 15% cut of app earnings versus Google’s typical 30%. The company now has more than 2 million registered app developers, up 87% from last year. It has more than doubled the number of apps integrated with its Huawei Mobile Services (HMS Core) framework over the past year to in excess of 100,000.

Huawei is “doing some great work helping non-Chinese app developers break into the lucrative Chinese market,” said CCS Insight’s Wood.

Huawei is also making promotional moves by offering exclusive perks for players of popular titles like AFK Arena by Lilith Games. It says it already has several games — such as Lords Mobile by IGG — earning in excess of €1 million per month in Europe through its platform.

To plot a path for its consumer electronics business, Huawei is relying on its massive scale, engineering strength and the general hunger for a third player in the mobile ecosystem. Its effort to compete with Apple and Google shows more promise than prior ventures from the likes of Samsung and Microsoft Corp.

But in order for Huawei to expand its nascent ecosystem to the point where it can make high-powered devices like the Mate 40 Pro compelling internationally, its first challenge will be to ensure it can keep producing such high-spec handsets. — Bloomberg

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