Chinese smartphone maker Oppo wants to link up smart devices on different operating systems in ecosystem push
- Pantanal is designed to ‘break the boundaries’ between devices and systems, allowing users to launch smartphone apps in some cars
- Oppo’s renewed push comes amid surging interest in internet-of-things (IoT) devices and slowing smartphone sales in China
Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has debuted a cross-platform solution that allows devices running on different operating systems, including handsets and cars, to connect with each other, in the company’s latest effort to build a tech ecosystem rivalling Apple, Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies Co.
Pantanal is designed to “break the boundaries” between devices and systems, Li Jie, Oppo’s vice-president for software, said at the company’s developers’ conference on Tuesday.
“Different systems and data have isolated various devices from each other, which has created a gap in cross-device experience,” said Li. “Pantanal will be the bridge to connect them.”
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The rise of Chinese smartphones
The system’s sensing and computational capabilities will help developers identify user needs and scenarios that would benefit from cross-device connections, he said.
For instance, photos taken on a user’s smartphone, action camera, drone and the car’s dash camera can be shared in one single album through Pantanal to create a vlog of the trip, Li said, while calling on developers to experiment with the system.
One of Pantanal’s first applications is Carlink, a collaborative project between Oppo and automakers that allows users to access smartphone apps on vehicles running on various smart car systems.
Oppo announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with China’s biggest automaker SAIC Motor on integrating smart devices and cars, following the smartphone company’s cooperation with Tesla China earlier this year to use Oppo handsets as digital keys on Tesla Model 3 and Model Y cars.
Oppo’s renewed push comes amid surging interest in internet-of-things (IoT) devices in China, where 3.66 billion smart devices were online in 2020. That number was expected to rise to 17.3 billion by 2025, according to a 2021 report by Chinese research firm EqualOcean.
The smartphone market, on the other hand, is shrinking.
Oppo, the third-best-selling smartphone brand in China in the second quarter, saw its shipments plunge over 30 per cent from a year ago, according to research firm IDC.
