HTC/Microsoft partnership strong, HTC will increase portion of Android handsets beyond 70%

June 10, 2011 | By Surur

HTC’s Jack Tong: Our partnership (with Microsoft) is strong

HTC has in one breath re-emphasized their commitment to Windows Phone 7 while at the same time spoke about their increased investment in Android.

Speaking to Dow Jones NewsWire, Jack Tong, president, HTC North Asia said:

"Our strategic partnership (with Microsoft) will continue," "Microsoft is still committed to us, and we will continue to develop tech devices. Our partnership is strong."

Action however speaks louder than words, and Tong also said it will the portion of handsets which are powered by Android will rise beyond 70%.

Nokia’s Stephen Elop has accused OEMs like HTC and Samsung of letting their Windows Phone 7 handsets play second fiddle to their Android devices, principally by producing devices with lower features and older technology.

For HTC’s Asian head, it does not sound like this is likely to change any time soon, strong partnership or not.

Read the full interview here.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged android, htc, windows phone 7

Ram

If it were not for Microsoft, Compaq and later HP/Compaq, HTC wouldn’t be enjoying this success. They become 3rd biggest mobile device manufacturer even before they started making Google devices. They are just simply ignoring their roots.
Anonymous

Elop is right on the money and if Microsoft released their Microsoft/Nokia branded exclusive phone it wouldn’t be a surprise. Shame on HTC by reducing their share of WP7 phones being produced. HTC should be releasing WP7 phone on par with Androids.

Anonymous

Although I agree that they should have released different models, I think they were pretty hamstrung in pushing the specs. Let’s not judge them too harshly until we see their Mango lineup – since new hardware options are going to be available.

http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

They were not hamstrung in the camera, storage, design or screen quality department. Or even the quantity, they pump out multiples of the same android handset but WP7 devices are one-offs or recycled android handsets. No style, no design panache, nothing. Remember the HTC Universal? That was pushing the envelope, now all we get are non-descript devices with poor screens and even poorer cameras. They could, and should have done better.

Anonymous

You make VERY valid points.
Anonymous

You make VERY valid points.
Smeck82

I have a Nokia N8 and it has a camera that blows anything Htc has ever done, the build quality is second to none also. The only company that is even near Nokia in quality is Apple.

Anonymous

looks like a nokia phone will be my next one. this is retarded for HTC to pump out inferior last gen versions for windows phones. Its understandable to invest more in android, but dont do it while turning your windows phones into second class citizens. The first gen ill give you a pass on.. it was a short time to delivery and to make the deadline, using off the shelf components and designs might have been necessary, but its been over a year now.. im sure you can make it work on next generation hardware too.
http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

How many times have is been said, the only WP7 phone worth buying from now on will be a Nokia one. HTC has made it clear now, their WP7 handsets will be made of the breadcrumbs from the android table. Stephen Elop has said it plain and simple, HTC and the like are doing their best work on android, Nokia will do THEIR best work on WP7. Time to say goodbye to HTC (and they surely wont be missed at my house!)

Ram

Ditto here.
Anonymous

I’ve been a big HTC fan for years but my next device may well have a Nokia stamp on it. I hope they come out strong and don’t forget us CDMA users!
http://www.twitter.com/wixostrix WixosTrix

I used to love HTC. I’ve had everything from the 8125 to the Tilt 2 on AT&T and all I have to say is they’ve lost their charm with me. Right now I have a Focus, but only because I couldn’t resist the SAMOLE display. I’m very interested in what Nokia comes up with

http://twitter.com/TheeBladeOGrass Michael Pendergraft

Same here but Samsung has dropped the WP7 ball also. Looking at the specs on the Focus, its a Galaxy S phone just with WP7 instead of Android. So what’s stopping them from putting WP7 on the Galaxy S II hardware? Not even so much as an announcement or hint at it. If they are so committed to Android, fine, but don’t expect me to buy their leftovers. Actions do speak louder than words and my actions is to give my $$ to Nokia.

http://www.twitter.com/wixostrix WixosTrix

I agree. I totally wont be buying another Samsung WP device unless they make so drastic changes in quality are reliabilty

http://twitter.com/nazeehe Nazeeh

Same here. I despise my focus. Coming from an iPhone 4, it’s a huge downgrade in quality. They only have a good screen, that’s it. I for sure will never buy a Samsung phone again. I like my devices to be of higher build quality and they don’t target that market.

Anonymous

They will probably wait for the next chassis upgrade to do that. But ms determines a lot of what samsung can do.

The carriers are to blame too. Samsung could have had two phones in na with the omnia which has fantastic build quality but no one picked up.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=738584621 Austine A. Amani

nokia has Clear Black Display http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/11/04/so-what-is-clearblack-display/

http://www.twitter.com/wixostrix WixosTrix

That looks fricken awesome!

Sent from my Windows Phone

Just Visiting

Totally agree! I’ve never owned a HTC device, but seeing their laziness (their rehashed shells from their Android devices) and lack of inspiration for the WP7 devices that were released, I knew that HTC would NEVER get my money. I realize that people like what they like, and many purchased HTC WP7 devices anyway; but my money goes with WP7 AND a device maker that puts forth more than a tiny effort in designing a phone – the current OEM’s, especially HTC, just did not seem to take WP7 seriously. Really glad that Nokia is on board – Nokia is guaranteed to get my money!
http://twitter.com/nazeehe Nazeeh

Yep. I can see what will happen clearly. Nokia will make a truly amazing set of devices, at least in comparison to what we have now. Since WP7 OS is actually really good and those who try it love it, it will start to sell. Within a couple of years, WP7 will be in relatively high demand and that’s when HTC and others will start wanting to do more. By then, Nokia will have established a much stronger brand and outsell them easily. Android won’t help much at that point.
MSblog

Pinning hope for WP7 is a fools errands with Nokia in a death spiral only gaining speed with Elop’s management mistakes.
Anonymous

Damn skippy. Just like everyone else here, I bought the Samsung Focus. Loved the look, and the screen. I would have purchased the Omnia, if it were available in the US. HTC and Samsung have sub-par products on the market, when comparing them to other devices. Granted, there are options that only Mango will begin to provide, but I truly believe Nokia will have the best phones on the market. I will be waiting to see the fruits of their labor this holiday, or in the first half of next year.

I am done with HTC and Samsung.

Dhaoracle

They are going to be bandwagoning when they see how successful Nokia is going to be when they bring their A game into making a Windows Phone. Nokia is not going to hold back and will give their all for these phone and from seeing their recent and previous hardware it is going to be a huge success for both Microsoft and Nokia with Mango coming soon.
Dhaoracle

I wont get a Nokia phone unless they bring Super AMOLED Plus to their phones or the latest AMOLED. I am just too stuck to this beautiful screen to let it go for any other phone that doesn’t have it.

Anonymous

Super AMOLED Plus is a Samsung branding of Amoled, so I doubt anyone else will be getting it. You’ll still be getting an AMOLED screen, though, considering it’s Nokia

Ben Chia

i don’t care whatever screen it is running on. so long as the screen appears clear and crisp under most or not all light conditions.
Ben Chia

i don’t care whatever screen it is running on. so long as the screen appears clear and crisp under most or not all light conditions.

Dhaoracle

I wont get a Nokia phone unless they bring Super AMOLED Plus to their phones or the latest AMOLED. I am just too stuck to this beautiful screen to let it go for any other phone that doesn’t have it.
David

I always liked HTC and all my phones in last 8 years were HTC devices. BUT with the way HTC is going and not supported the way they were supporting Windows Phone I start to losing my faith on them. If they don’t release anything good in term of hardware this holiday and they keep make their Windows Phone devices with minimum specification and old hardware then I am done with HTC and I will go back to Nokia.

I was one of strong suppporters of HTC and always was recommending them to others but if thats how HTC wants to go in future then from now on no more HTC for me and all our future phones will be Nokia.

So better HTC think twice and will be a strong player in WP market and compete with Nokia and comes with great Windows Phones devices or they will lose it to Nokia and it will be hard for them to have any good share in future.

So up to you HTC to lose a loyal customer or not!
Anonymous

I’m an HTC HD7 owner, I’ve been saying along that when it comes time for me to trade-in this coming fall/holiday My next device will likely be a Nokida device because I think that they will have some very nice high end high spec devices coming out.
Pacific

“Stephen Elop has said it plain and simple, HTC and the like are doing their best work on android, Nokia will do THEIR best work on WP7. Time to say goodbye to HTC (and they surely wont be missed at my house!)”

My first smart phone was N95. I do hope Nokia will come out with a killer Windows Phone 7/8. Because I’m ready to switch from my HD7 back to Nokia.
I do understand that Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, etc. prob read the IDC report about Android is #1 till 2015, therefore they are seeing where the money are.

But until They see how Nokia phones ecosystem is threaten theirs, which I hope they will, by then the water is already passed their ankles.
Anonymous

HTC will continue to produce WP7 devices… they have to keep their toe in the water. What’s really funny is every HTC Android device sold goes right back to Microsoft and their investment in WP7 thanks to the nice settlement. Sell away! You’ll be back another day!
http://www.dealscybermonday.org/ John

A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing slightly evaluation on this. And he actually purchased me breakfast as a result of I discovered it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I really feel strongly about it and love studying more on this topic.
Michael hansen

you dont get , course of patents microsoft make between 5 to 9 dollars on every android device that are sold, and bill gates own 2 % share of apple
so he dosent care what phone is sold, but the blackberry wicth has a market share of 25% in the us , that is the one he is after. and nokia is gonna help out with that
it is a bussine phone, not app and games , if it was that microsoft has open up the device to all
like the android
Michael hansen

please see this , the us is at nokia sight
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/12983_Stephen_Elops_keynote_at_Qualc.php
http://twitter.com/firaXY Florian Zeindl

Guys, i think comparing hardware specs of Android phones and WP7 phones doesn’t make any sense. Most of us WP7 users know, that the system runs absolutely smoothly and flawlessly on what’s the typical “mid-range” setup with 1ghz Snapdragon, 576MB RAM and whatnot. Now this is different with Android. Due to poor optimization and fragmentation over a large array of different setups the system actually run quite poorly in my experience. In other words, Android benefits from higher CPU speeds, dual-core and whatnot, because it’s more like an unoptimized Desktop Linux than an optimized smartphone OS. It’s quite similar to what Apple has been doing, namely mostly lagging behind on CPU Speed (remember 3GS was 600Mhz, while everyone else had 1Ghz already?). Yet, noone complained that the iPhone offered an inferior experience. In conclusion, i do not believe that at this point, with NoDo at least, building a vastly more expensive phone just so you can have dual-core, 1,2 Ghz and what not on the specsheet would make any sense. The user experience would not increase, because even the slightly outdated specs already offer a smoother experience than a highend Android smartphone, be it Samsung or HTC. Is this not the appeal of WP7? The positive effect of this is that many WP7 handsets are VERY cheap atm – here in Europe you can buy the HTC Trophy and LG Optimus 7 for 170EUR, the Omnia 7 for 200EUR. This low pricepoint is what appealed to a couple of friends of mine who have all decided to choose WP7 mainly because of the low pricepoint. I think none of them regretted it as the system runs just as smoothly as the latest high-end Android hardware.

Anonymous

No one is talking about CPU or RAM specs here. The discussion is on other areas of the phone: camera, storage capcity, screen size/type, and overall asthetics. The BEST looking WP7 device is the Samsung Omnia 7 (which is only available in Europe), followed by the Samsung Focus here in the states. Now, while I like the look of both, and how light the Focus is (as I own two), their build quality certainly is subpar with what HTC and the new Gallaxy II chassis’ are on the market today.

And for $500US, there better be other materials on the exterior of the chassis than simply plastic, and chrome covered plastic.

All SP OEM’s need to step their game up.

http://www.mobileinfoplanet.com MIP

And why wouldn’t they [Samgung, HTC, etc.] let WP7 play second fiddle, given what awaits them?

http://www.mobileinfoplanet.com/2011/06/09/nokias-exclusive-wp7-features-it-doesnt-add-up/