HTC is considering buying a mobile operating system for its smartphone business. Focus Taiwan News Channel reported that Cher Wang, chairman of HTC, stated that the company can use any OS it wants and that there is no rush. It is uncertain which operating system HTC would purchase and optimise by adding the HTC Sense custom user interface. Several bets are on HP’s Palm webOS.
Cher Wang, in an interview with Observer China, said, “We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse. We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform.”
This stands true to a larger extent as the company has provided several winning handsets that are designed smartly, pack good hardware and run on great software.
HTC will closely watch the development of two major operating systems — Baidu OS and Aliyan OS. The company boasts of its ability to stand out amongst competitors with several devices running different operating systems and provide a nice user experience.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 would be an exception since the operating system does not allow the addition of a third party user interface.
Both Samsung and HTC are reported to have been planning to purchase HP’s Palm webOS platform. Samsung already has its hands deep in Google Android, Windows Phone 7 and now Bada OS. On the other hand, it would be a good long term investment for HTC to buy webOS. At this moment, the company does not seem to be indulging in any sort of purchase but we can expect an announcement by early next year during the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.