Bloomberg reports that HTC is looking into developing their own mobile operating system. According to HTC CFO, Cheng Hui-ming:
“We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify”
An HTC device that combines their typically excellent hardware with HTC developed software seems like the logical endgame for HTC. Heck, they’ve already put their own Sense UI on top of many Android phones and have even tinkered Sense to fit Windows Mobile. On those devices, the HTC Sense experience shines as much as the original operating system. Building a true smartphone operating system (we’re not counting that dumbphone) could be taken as another step in a direction they were already heading.
However, given HTC’s strong relationship with both Google and Microsoft and the increasingly competitive smartphone market, this is far from a sure thing. HTC has proven itself successful with its current business model and the company has become the talk of the town. Unless they’re really unhappy with the state of Android and Windows Mobile, we just can’t see it happening. Or they can just buy Palm. Or not, apparently, as Reuters says today that the deal is off.
And though it’s an exciting proposition if HTC does decide to go head-on in software, we don’t want them to ever leave Android. Don’t do it HTC.