HTC Has High Hopes for Tattoo

Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corporation announced not too long ago the launch of a new handset powered by Google's Android operating system, the HTC Tattoo. The device, as many of you might already know, has already been put on sale on various markets around the world, and the company even launched a new website where Tattoo owners can personalize covers for their handset using a series of available designs or coming up with their own.

It's a common fact that HTC accounts for the largest number of handsets available on the market with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system on board, as well as the fact that it is the first handset vendor to have launched a device powered by Google's OS. However, the recently launched Tattoo is said to be one of the phones HTC would bet the most on, and DigiTimes notes that Jack Tong, vice president of Asia business at HTC, even said that it should outsell the Windows Mobile-based HTC Touch that came to the market back in 2007, at least in its home country.

The newly announced HTC Tattoo was released in Taiwan on the airwaves of Taiwan Mobile on October 13, and sports a retail price of NT$13,900 (US$430). As stated even in the initial press-release that announced the handset, it has been developed mainly for the mid-range segment of the market. The sales of Tattoo should surpass the 200,000 unit shipments the older HTC Touch has seen on its home market, it seems.

Moreover, the company is also reportedly betting a lot on another Android-powered smartphone it launched on the market during the ongoing year, namely the Hero, which is available in Taiwan on the airwaves of Chunghwa Telecom. This device, Tong says, cited by DigiTimes, should be sold in more units than the combined sales of the company's HTC Diamond and HTC Victor handsets (around 100,000 units in total).