HTC Might Build Its Own Mobile OS

Leading Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corporation is reportedly considering the possibility to launch smartphones powered by its own mobile operating system. The company is known for the smartphones launched on the market with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile or Google's Android platform, and the launch of an own branded OS might increase the competition on the market even more.

According to a recent article on Bloomberg, Cheng Hui-ming, chief financial officer of the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company, stated the following: “We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify [having our own system].” However, he added that the handset vendor hadn't delivered a time frame for deciding on the possibility of building its own mobile operating system.

“If you look at the successful smartphone players, like Apple and Research in Motion, a reason for their success is that they have their own platform,” said Steven Tseng, the news site reports. “The negative is the amount of resources they’d need to allocate,” Tseng stated. The launch of its own platform would drive HTC towards reducing its dependence on outside developers.

In addition to considering the development of its own operating system, HTC is also said to be among the companies which would be interested in the purchase of the Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm. Rumors on a possible takeover from HTC emerged on Monday, yet Cheng declined to comment on the possible acquisition of Palm, Boomberg notes.

HTC is widely known around the world as the largest provider of handsets powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS, and is also the first phone maker to launch an Android-based device. Not to mention that it recently launched a handset powered by Qualcomm’s Brew MP platform, the HTC Smart. “There are many multiple factors to be considered together, rather than a simple statement as to own or not to own” a proprietary platform, Cheng also stated.