HTC Corp's first smartphone based on the Google operating system aims to enhance internet searching on mobile devices with the introduction of an image-based search engine that links with local retailers' information, according to HTC chief marketing officer John Wang.
Based in Taiwan, the company is the largest maker of smartphones using Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.
Now, with Google, the world's biggest internet search engine, the two companies have launched the first smartphone based on Google's recently developed Android operating system - the G1 phone.
The phone will arrive in the United States later this month and is expected to be in Hong Kong stores in the first quarter of next year.
However, industry watchers believe that operators are pushing the phone's release to next year and beyond. China Mobile, for example, is reportedly having trouble getting Android to work with Chinese characters and integrating it into its existing data services.
In the US, AT&T is still in talks with Google on the launch of an Android phone. The T-Mobile network has already secured a deal for the release of the G1, an open source device whose design allows operators to tailor its functions to their needs.
