(Yicai) March 4 -- Shenzhen, the home city of HarmonyOS' developer Huawei Technologies, has released its annual action plan to support the development of native applications for the Chinese tech giant's operating system.

Shenzhen will strengthen the supply capacity of HarmonyOS apps, promote the clustering of HarmonyOS-original app industries, and improve the HarmonyOS app industry ecosystem, according to the blueprint issued on March 2.

The latest version of HarmonyOS Next became independent and no longer supports apps developed by Google's Android, Huawei announced on Jan. 18. Nearly half of China's top 200 apps have started and are accelerating the development of HarmonyOS-native apps.

The action plan will drive the improvement of HarmonyOS software ecosystem building and explore more application scenarios, Li Enhan from the China Development Institute told Yicai. It will also advance the iteration of the underlying OS, breakthrough technical blockades in related fields, and ensure the security of Chinese data and industries, Li added.

According to official data, 49 companies in Shenzhen have taken part in building the open-source HarmonyOS ecosystem as of the end of last year, with 133 products and contributing to 11 software distributions.

The latest action plan sets forth HarmonyOS-native apps' development goals in Shenzhen this year, including that their number accounts for over 10 percent of China's total, achieving their full coverage in major domains, having qualified HarmonyOS developers account for over 15 percent of the country's total, establishing two or more professional industrial parks where companies focused on the development and application of HarmonyOS-native software, and having over 1,000 software firms with HarmonyOS development qualifications.

Shenzhen will also reward relevant software companies, promote the launch of HarmonyOS-native apps by public service systems and state-owned enterprises and institutions, and encourage the release of HarmonyOS-native apps software in new terminal areas, including aerospace satellites, smart homes, and intelligent vehicles.

In addition, Shenzhen also encourages financial institutions to provide services to HarmonyOS-native apps software firms and offers subsidies or incentives to universities for cultivating HarmonyOS engineers and talents.

HarmonyOS will likely surpass Apple's iOS and become the second-largest OS in the Chinese smartphone market this year, only behind Android, market researcher Techinsights predicted.

Editor: Martin Kadiev