back to article HTC mulls mobile OS buy – but won’t be rushed

HTC is actively looking at buying its own mobile operating system, such as HP’s WebOS, but isn’t in any hurry. In an interview with Economic Observer of China, HTC chairwoman Cher Wang said that she and other members of the board were looking at the options for the company to buy its own OS but that no decisions had been made …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Microsoft’s Nokia purchase"

    Know something we don't?

    1. Shaun Hunter
      WTF?

      Been living under a rock since the begining of the year?

      It's not offical but it's pretty much a done deal.

      1. Steve Evans

        Well...

        There are many rumours about a purchase, but since Elop was placed at the head of Nokia it's been pretty safe to class the once mighty Finnish company as having been absorbed into the collective.

        1. Steen Hive

          You think it's pretty safe. I'd put money on the Finnish government growing a pair and nationalising it out from under them. Proper order too.

    2. GrantB
      Trollface

      they brought it cheap and quiet..

      Great deal for Microsoft - rather than paying billions to buy Nokia outright, they just got 'lucky' when a ex-MS exec got the plum CEO role at Nokia.

      End result - Nokia's now half the price and about the only dedicated supporter of WP7. Total investiment from MS - about a billion in marketing costs to Nokia.

      I could imagine Elop will be popular at Microsoft when/if Nokia exits the smartphone market, leaving a carcass of dumb phones and patents.

      So they haven't brought Nokia yet, but seem to be running the ship at minimal cost.

  2. asdf
    WTF?

    hmm

    >We can use any OS we want

    iOS might not be an option they can afford considering Apples current market cap.

  3. Mark 65

    New OS

    They'll either need to make sure any new OS is free from infringing baggage or, more likely, comes with a whole host of patents (like Web OS) otherwise they'll just be spending money to become another Microsoft/Oracle/Whomever infringement target again. Sometimes you have to wonder whether the US market is worth getting into for phones when the rest of the market is absolutely huge (Africa, India, China, Europe etc) and the US economy is bust anyhow.

  4. Nights_are_Long

    Intresting, I have tried to like droid and just couldnt get on with it. I liked HTC's high end hardware and would consider it if they have there own OS as a alternative to what I am using now.

  5. Mr Floppy
    Thumb Up

    HTC Desire Z or something similar and ..

    Put Meego on that and it may mean I leave my N900 as a shelf queen

    1. Andrew 66

      Get yourself a HTC 7 Pro. You'll love it. Genuinely.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    What to buy? What to do?

    There are some OSes to buy but what to do? WebOS, MeeGO even Symbian! Or fork Android like some are saying that Amazon will do. But apart Android, only Symbian has considerable apps available. MeeGo technically is on par with Android, iOS and WebOS, but like WebOS, no market, and that means alot of money in marketing it. But picking WebOS or specially MeeGO, that i would love to see and wait with a pint on my hand for the faces of Elop and Steve B. :-)

  7. BrentRBrian
    Thumb Down

    HTC looking for OS

    Yep, WebOS certainly put HP products over the top.

    Who in Redmon Washington wrote this article>

  8. tmTM

    Another mobile OS?

    Yea that'll work well.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Buy an OS with no apps, or use Android?

    Clearly this is why WebOS failed, it's why Windows Phone 7 is also failing with a embarrassingly low 1% marketshare (and i'm guessing most of those are freebie promo phones). Little or no developer support, and a high FAC (Fart App Count).

    1. chr0m4t1c

      I think WP7's biggest problem to adoption was Windows Mobile 6.x (and earlier).

      Also, I'm not quite sure of the 1% market share, the only place I've read that is Gartner and as they said it was down on the same time last year (i.e. *before* WP7 launched), I'm inclined to take their figures with a pinch of the old sodium chloride.

      Other sources put the figure in the 4-6% range, which actually compares quite well with Android at roughly the same age (2-3%).

      I seriously doubt it'll make the 33% Android hit at the two year mark, though.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Well that'll be the end of HTC then. HTC should simply stick with Windows Phone and Android and keep on producing class leading hardware. We all know Android is set to become the dominant mobile OS, so on earth is HTC thinking foolish thoughts??? HTC, do what you do best, produce the best hardware bar none to remind Google that HTC hardware is far superior to Motorolas.

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