Ian Grayson26 June 2008, 2:00 PM
Despite delays in the release of Google's Android mobile OS, Taiwanese manufacturer HTC says it is still on track to have its first handsets in the market before Christmas.
Speaking in Sydney this week, HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou acknowledged there have been challenges in getting the Google operating system to the point where it is can run in a consumer device.
“But we are still shooting for the end of this year, for release to the market,” he told APCmag.com.
Chou says Android is an important element in HTC’s long-term strategy to grow its share of the highly-competitive mobile handset market. To date, the company has been 100 per cent committed to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform.
However the ambitious company believes Android will allow it to design and build a new range of handsets that provide solid internet browsing capabilities without the need for a complex operating system such as Windows Mobile.
“Windows Mobile has a lot of value, but not all mass market consumers need it,” says Chou. “Not everyone needs Exchange synchronisation, security and Outlook.”
“Windows Mobile also has limitations because it tries to support everything and so is a bit complicated and heavy. We believe there is a market category we can expand for devices that are much lighter but provide a very good mobile internet experience.”
Chou says most consumers just want to have an easy way to access the internet, check email and search for information on their mobile phone. Android’s integration with Google’s suite of services will give them this.
“If it’s just about browsing and making a phone call, you don’t need to include all of the other stuff,” he says. “Google services are strong and we think this could be a way to expand this product category.”
Despite its apparent fondness for Android, HTC’s latest handset remains powered by Windows Mobile. The HTC Touch Diamond, which should hit the shops in mid-August, will retail for $999 and be initially available only on Telstra’s Next G network.
Yet you could be forgiven for not knowing the Microsoft OS is actually powering the svelte, black device. HTC has gone to great pains to create its own user interface that sits on top of Windows Mobile.
HTC chief innovation officer Horace Luke says while Windows Mobile is a solid and powerful OS, its user interface leaves a lot to be desired.
“No one has ever applied innovation or creativity to the UI (of Windows Mobile),” he says. “It was fundamentally an embedded system with a PC-like UI and that was completely inappropriate.”
HTC’s touch interface has been designed to be operated with a single handed, allowing users to easily scroll or click to the functions they need.