HTC, one of Microsoft’s earliest phone partners, says their mobile partnership with Microsoft is still “strong” despite the Nokia and Microsoft partnership, however, HTC plans on increasing its bet with Android.
From what HTC says, the mobile partnership between the company and Microsoft is still going “strong” even with the Nokia/Microsoft partnership. Nokia and Microsoft formed a “strategic partnership” back in February that now allows both companies to create products and services that will create an impact in the smartphone arena.
HTC has been one of Microsoft’s earliest phone partners and helped with the first Windows Mobile phone back in 2002. HTC is one of the two big hardware makers that manufactures Windows Phone 7 devices. Samsung is the second biggest.
HTC President, Jack Tong, was quoted in a recent interview that the company’s phones are now mostly based on Android. Roughly 70% of the company phones are Android phones and the company expects that percentage to increase. HTC is expected to sell 50 million more phones this year.
With HTC’s increased focus on Android phones, its no wonder that HTC is ranked as the #5 mobile phone maker in the world, after Nokia, Apple, RIM, and Samsung.
HTC’s President also mentioned that the company plans on doing more “strategic investments and acquisitions in areas like cloud computing.” HTC recently acquired media delivery company Saffron Digital for $48.5 million dollars and invested $40 million dollars into cloud-based video game platform, OnLive.
