MANILA -- Huawei called on developers to join its growing app marketplace, present in some 400 million devices, as it released its second premium smartphone with its own mobile services front and center.

AppGallery, available in 170 countries and with 1.3 million developers on board is the third biggest app store and Huawei recently offered $1 billion in incentives to catch up with Google and Apple.

Like the Mate 30 series from the last quarter if 2019, the P40 series which launched last March ships with Android, running on Huawei Mobile Services instead of its Google counterpart.

"We warmly welcome every app developer worldwide to joint the Huawei Mobile Services ecosystem to bring the best experience to Huawei users," Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu said during the P40 series virtual launch.

Notwithstanding the US sales ban, Huawei in 2019 shipped 240 million smartphones worldwide, said Yanmin Wang, President of Eco-partnership and Eco-development.

"That big customer base will enable us to develop a new mobile ecosystem," Wang said. "To create a new mobile ecosystem, we must have the new tech new approach."

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FOCUS ON SECURITY

The AppGallery is built with a focus on security as apps have access to users' personal data and passwords, even bank information and fingerprints, said Wang during a recent developers' conference.

"All this personal data can be very risky," Wang sand. "Customers want a reliable, secure mobile ecosystem."

Developers need to authenticate with their real names before their app is released to prevent fake accounts that push out apps with malware. This also makes it easier for Huawei to monitor and ban developers when necessary, the company said.

During download, 4 layers of security are in place to protect user data, Huawei said. The platform can detect malicious behavior including eavesdropping and taking screenshots without consent, it said.

"By combining the intelligent detection methods and manual real-name authentication, AppGallery provides full-fledged coverage for users against most conceivable threats," Huawei said.

80 APPS PER DEVICE

Developers should build apps that encourage user engagement, said Jaime Gonzalo, Vice President of Huawei Mobile Services.

The average user has 80 apps on his or her device and the number can swell to 100 in developed countries, he said.

Android, the world's biggest mobile operating system, has 2.9 million apps, with 6,000 more added daily. Half of the world's mobile users download zero apps per month. A quarter of mobile users install less than 2 apps per month, he said.

"Users are very hard to acquire and very easy to lose," Gonzalo told developers.

The AppGallery is going "glocal" by ensuring that popular apps in a certain region are available on the platform. Agoda, for example, is the choice of the Asian market while Booking.com is for Europe, he said.

In the Philippine, AppGallery has grown its offerings. Dance video sharing app TikTok was the top download at the start of the Luzon lockdown. It also offers e-wallet apps PayMaya and GCash, offering millions on quarantine the opportunity to transact cashless.

Other popular apps on AppGallery include: Booking.com, Lazada, Camera 360, Lazada-Online Shopping & Deals, Shopee, SHAREit, Viber Messenger, SnapChat, BDO Personal Banking, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Globe Rewards, Speed Test, WeChat, Klook, WeSing, PhotoGrid, Philippine Airlines, CLiQQby7-Eleven, Booky, iFlix, WPS, MetroBank, Union Bank Online, SSS, Viu, Trivago, Traveloka, Wattpad, Eastwest Bank, Meralco, Canva and AliExpress.