High Tech Computer Corp. announced it will use a mobile-phone design platform from Ericsson to develop devices for EDGE and W-CDMA networks.
“HTC is a world-leading ODM company that provides smart handheld product design and manufacturing service to our customers,” said H.T. Cho, HTC Corp.’s president. “We are very excited to be a strategic partner to Ericsson Mobile Platforms to integrate leading wireless [third-generation] technology into our smart phones and wireless Pocket PCs. By adopting Ericsson Mobile Platforms’ solution, we expect a fast time to market with advanced and reliable wireless products for our customers.”
The deal is notable because HTC is so far the only company to build devices using Microsoft Corp.’s Smartphone operating system, and through the Ericsson deal, will be able to make Microsoft smart phones for EDGE and W-CDMA networks.
Further, the deal is evidence of the growing trend toward reference designs. A variety of companies, including Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp., offer such designs to manufacturers looking to get into wireless.
In other mobile-phone news, NTT DoCoMo Inc. released its new SH505i mobile phone, which is equipped with a 1-megapixel-resolution camera. Several manufacturers in Japan have recently released megapixel resolution camera phones, which feature resolution on par with low-end digital cameras.
