Taiwan-based smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) will launch one of its own-brand touch-screen phones in the US by the end of the year, as it seeks to compete with Apple's iPhone, a Reuters report said.
The Reuters report said the company's second-half US launch for its newly released HTC Touch phone follows a recent release for the model in Britain, according to HTC CEO Peter Chou.
The model, a so-called smartphone with mobile phone and PDA capabilities, will use touch-screen technology similar to that of the iPhone, set for release in the US later this month, the Reuters report said.
'We've finally walked out of our different twists and turns,' Chou was quoted as saying, , a reference to his company's recent shift from making phones for other firms to making phones under its own HTC brand name.
He said HTC should post third-quarter revenue higher than the current quarter, and that unit phone shipments for all of 2007 should grow from 2006, the report said.
The company is expected to post third-quarter revenue of NT$30.1 billion ($912 million), up from a forecast of NT$27.3 billion for the current quarter, according to analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
HTC, which sells mobile phones under its own name and makes smartphones for the likes of Dell and NTT DoCoMo, is the world's biggest maker of devices that combine functions PDAs with mobile communications, the report further said.