14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corporation is reportedly working with mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless for the launch of two new devices before the end of the ongoing year. At the same time, it seems that HTC is also determined to bring to the market a next-generation Google phone, called Passion, as well as a device powered by Qualcomm's Brew Mobile Platform, which should come to the US carrier Sprint Nextel.
A recent article published on DigiTimes, which cites the Commercial Times newspaper, shows that HTC is trying to make new moves on the mobile phone market due to the tightening competition it is facing on the Android phone market, where newcomers like Motorola, LG and Huawei threaten its market share. HTC is the first company to have launched a device powered by Google's OS, yet now Samsung also has such a phone on the market, and other companies already announced plans to make a move in this direction.
The HTC Desire should be the first Android mobile phone that will become available on Verizon's airwaves. According to Commercial Times, the desire will be only one of the devices launched by HTC and Verizon, as a mobile TV handset, the Whitestone, is also expected to surface in the fourth quarter. The latter has already been spotted in the wild a few times before, and it should land on the market powered by Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS (most probably 6.5, though its specs show a slower processor).
As WMPoweruser notes, the Whitestone might not appeal too much to users, especially if it comes with the same specs that leaked before, and which included a Qualcomm 7600 processor clocked at 528MHz, 512MB of ROM and 256MB of RAM, a 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel photo snapper with auto focus, full GPS and aGPS, as well as support for GSM/CDMA networks, as it will be a world phone.
As for the other devices expected to come from HTC before the end of 2009, the newspaper says that Passion is expected to be the result of a collaboration between HTC and Google, and should also emerge in the last three months of the year. The BMP-based handset from HTC has already been rumored to come to the market on Sprint's airwaves, and is expected to be announced officially either in September or October, it seems.