In an interview given to
Forbes, HTC CEO Peter Chou spoke pretty candidly about the widespread desire for an Android version of the
HD2, and says the phone won't be finagled thusly. "Technically, we could make the HD2 an Android phone, but I have to take care of Windows Mobile," said Chou, after which we imagine popped in a stick of Juicy Fruit and didn't offer to share any with the rest of the class. Of course, this doesn't rule out a handset with similar specifications to the HD2, like the
Dragon, matching DROID's push toward Android 2.0 and modern hardware, but it seems to imply that at least it won't be called "HD2," and probably won't look much like it either. Chou did admit that Windows Mobile innovation has been "a little slow" and that interest is declining, and says HTC is "working hard on these kinds of products to get excitement about Windows Mobile back." He didn't hold back on Google, however, saying that some of its actions can be "destructive" but that "we've worked with Microsoft for 13 years ... I also believe we can work with Google for a long time."
[Via
SlashGear]
posted Oct 29th 2009 11:41AM
Officially, royally, pissed!
Oh, and that image of him popping in Juicy Fruit made me bust out laughing literally, lol.
Take care of WinMo...yeah the same way they have been taking care of you....Driving your profits straight into the ground...
Don't sweat it. Actually, this is good news as it confirms that the hardware is totally capable of supporting Android, which means that it's only a matter of time before some hacker release a custom Android build for it. Just keep your eyes on xda-developers.
Its Microsoft's responsibility to get the excitement about Windows Mobile back!
@Chao_Sama
Who do you think was taking care of HTC before Android came out?..
Yeah WinMo built HTC to where it is today. Give WinMo a chance.
No biggie, we'll be able to boot android on it eventually - whether HTC or MSFT wants you to or not.
What's the big deal...?
Enjoy your Dragon.
*shrugs* What's new? HTC has always been a bunch of class 1 assholes. Take care of Windows Mobile? Unless he's talking euthanizing WM then his priories are SERIOUSLY fucked up. 6.5 is still a pile of shit and that is with firsthand experience. Another company needs to come out with better handsets and put up some real competition against these assholes.
You believe this Douche? take care of winmo? Just like they did when they didn't put proper drivers on certain handsets. http://www.htcclassaction.org/ Take care of winmo my ass! Ofcourse had this been an open OS some1 else could of written those drivers I suppose...
Well I'm officially excited but mostly because this means HTC won't just be dumping development on Windows Mobile and leaving existing users to rot. Hopefully they'll make Touch Flo 3D even better integrated-it's pretty comprehensive but the bizarre duality of having both the underlying windows mobile GUI and Touch Flo makes things pretty confusing and there are still a ton of bugs to iron out on their latest phones. Nonetheless Windows Mobile still has tons of potential and really the only glaring issue right now is the lack of a cutting edge web browser but that's going to change.
I'm waiting for the 1st Android 2.0 phone with
-WVGA
-1GHz (or even 800MHz) process (Snapdragon or other)
I thought/hoped that was going to be from HTC.. but maybe my $$ will be spent elsewhere.
Hopefully this Nov 3 announcement from SE will satiate yours (and mines) thirst for this kind of handset.
Xperia X3/X10/Infinity, whatever it's gonna be called...you're our last hope.
I pray the rumored 16GB onboard memory is true also.
Yes. You can get a Samsung Moment... while the Moment to get an HTC with those sepcs comes.
Can you mention at least one tangible benefit that Android offer over WinMo?
Actually...WinMo and Android are very much alike (hence why many see WinMo, not Apple, as being Android's number one competitor.
I, personally, prefer Android because it gives you a more desktop experience with movable icons for apps and widgets.
Stock WinMo doesn't give you that. And the best implementation of WinMo is currently from TouchFlo and Sense.
@iDavey,
Thanks for your reply. In fact, WinMo is far more robust when it comes to UI. Check SPB Shell for WinMo homesreen abilities - it can do everything Android is and much more. Underneath, though, WinMo is much more mature and feature-rich platform. Android is now trendy and not because is offers any advantages for the users. It is merely The Cool Thing now. Unfortunately, MS neglected the platform for years. The part where it really failed is marketing: MS simply failed to promote it. As a result, this superior OS faded away under pressure from inferior but more heavily promoted Android.
@Soccer Mom
How can you say that WinMo is better at UI when you name a replacement for the built in home screen? That's like saying my Pinto rocks because I dropped a Ferarri engine in it. The fact that WinMo can be customized like that makes it an acceptable platform, but Android can as well.
If you want a tangible benefit of Android over WinMo, then here's mine. The entire system is completely customizable to the point of being to write my own entire operating environment. For me, a plus. Maybe not for you, but cell phones are personal decisions anyway.
@Soccer_Mom:
Capacitive screens (now, not on some unspecified future date), responsiveness, stability, useful marketplace, and finger-friendly UI. Just for starters. I just switched from WM to Android and I couldn't be happier with the change, it's like night and day.
i'd like those same specs but with a keyboard...
@Soccor_Mom
Notice I said "Stock WinMo"
I know very much about WinMo capabilities, was my first smartphone OS (I'm no newb)
It's just that from out of the box, Android has more. And with Android 2.0...even more.
Like I said...they both are really the same, has the same capabilities.
The end point boils down to preferences. Mines is the desktop like ability of the stock, vanilla Android.
Something that is only seen with Android and Maemo at this point.
@LunchBoxG4,
Android homescreen is customized by manufacturers. Vanilla Android is just as exciting as Palm was back in 1998. What you see is purpose-build custom screens, which is not much different from what Omnia, HTC Manila or SPB offers. It is a common mistake to take custom UI and compare it to vanilla UI of the competition. I don't know about the operating environment - I don't think 99.9999% of users would really care. As for the apps running on the system, WinMo has by far richer support.
@Brett,
Capacitive screen has nothing to do with the underlying OS. WinMo supported capacitive for years, however OEM didn't. Cannot blame OS for the shortcomings of the hardware manufacturers. Responsiveness is a matter of the CPU speed, and since Dell Axim 51 WinMo was quite responsive and quick. Stability - it is as stable as other OS, I didn't see it hung once. Useful marketplace - did you see Handango? It's been around for years, offering quality software, unlike junk-filled iTunes App Store. Finger-friendly UI was one of the shortcomings of the OS, unquestionably. It is fixed to some degree by add-ons, like Manila. In fact, I lost stylus a year ago and never really need it. At the same time, WinMo UI offered precision unavailable on other platforms. All ported games, like Sim City ran fine on WinMo and unusable on iPhone. I too switched recently, but to iPhone, and quite unhappy with the choice. The only reason for the switch was the capacitive screen, which feels a lot more natural than resistive. I cannot wait for WinMo 7 to come out and decent hardware, which has been holding OS back so far.
Cheers!
@mike
I'm waiting for the 1st (any OS) phone with:
- WVGA 4.3in.
- 1GHz (or even 800MHz) process (Snapdragon or other)
- CDMA to go with my 15$/m unlimited data
I'm dying for an HTC HD/HD2 that works with my carrier (Telus).
by the time some manufacturer makes that exact handset(and a carrier makes it affordable) it wont even be the sought after tech anymore lol.
My suggestion: try using a device first, THEN critique the specs as if you know anything.
winmo isnt nearly as awful as people make it out to be, its just PDA software that hardware makers insisted putting on phones. Most smartphone hardware on the market seems underpowered for it(though thats changing) and microsoft would at least SEEM to be hard at work on an OS designed from the ground up to be on a smartphone in their WinMo 7.
WinMo = Fail!
I'll be saying the same to you when your heel starts hurting.
Fully agreed Windows Mobile is at the moment a complete dissaster, with android slowly taking over, almost every device coming out that would of ran windows mobile/ce is now running android, I give it late 2010 and windows mobile will be finished forever!
oh and if vaporware Window Mobile 7 gets released thing might change who knows its been in the works since early 2007 and still no release date!
@Ocean
Late 2010 has been stated for a while now as the release date. We won't get anything official until at least a couple months before release.
You're also a moron for thinking WinMo will die. More WinMo devices are being sold now than in the early days, even though market share is down...quite simply because the market size has increased exponentially. So they are a) making more money for development from direct sales than before and b) it has a much higher potential than before, so it will see even more money thrown it's way, which is something Ballmer indicated is happening with WM7. (Something about them totally screwing up WinMo in the first place, and a need to reclaim lost ground).
Also, the WinMo core, WinCE, powers devices you use all the time without realizing it. Everything from gas pumps to ATMs to cash registers. Full blown windows mobile sees a lot of use in ruggedized devices in industry..barcode scanners, mobile terminals, etc. It will be around a long time.
@Kamokazi: Just to support his statement, I work at a retail store, and the RF units we use to make price tags, look up products, batch print signs, etc. are all powered from a windows mobile handset, and I peeked at the specs and they were surprisingly not that powerful, but for business those specs fit in just right =)
I hope the Touch Pro 3 is this thing with a keyboard!
hahaha yea some bulge that would be. You'd be explaining to alot of people about whats in your pants o.o
I already have to explain about the bulge caused by my huge peni-
Oh, right. I see what you did there
Chou did admit that Windows Mobile innovation has been "a little slow" and that interest is declining, and says HTC is "working hard on these kinds of products to get excitement about Windows Mobile back."
Translation: MS had best get its butt moving or there will be one less WinMo manufacturer.
I highly doubt that HTC is going to be going anywhere anytime soon. They have moar money stored up than you or I can count.
@Christian - that post is not meant to imply HTC will be going anywhere. Just that if Windows Mobile does not become a desired and modern mobile OS, HTC will cease building hardware to run it.
Maybe they are considering picking up Symbian or Maemo in 2010-11. That would put the cat amoung the pigeons...
@Dansus: Switching from WinMo 6.5 to Symbian would be like switching from WinMo 6.5 to WinMo 5. Nokia should just give Symbian up (or at least only use it for their low end non-touch phones) and move to Maemo.
I guess im stuck with the iPhone...
Now please down rank me cause i mentioned the iPhone and your all idiots.
Done, and done!
"your all idiots."
My all idiots what?
I think his call dropped....
@tikiteko
Zing..
All your idiots are belong to Apple!
The poor man is only saying the HD2 won't be Android.... he is not saying that another phone, with another name, with another, but same or similar specs won't be coming with Android.
WinMo is still my favorite Mobile OS - yes power-down-rank me if you want. I am also happy to see the growth of Android, but chill dudes... Don't hate the poor man. He is not closing the door to Android, it will just be another kind of phone. I personally think it is better to have a phone that was designed with Android in mind that to have one that was designed thinking on Windows and just have Android mashed into it.
Why do you keep saying he's poor?
and your android picture fully shows your support for Windows Mobile!
He must be poor since he cant afford anything other than a 528 ARM11 for 90% of the phones hes pushed out this year.
My guess is that he has to say that because:
1. Ballmer called and (demanded) asked for exclusive rights to the HD2 model, because of all the excitement over the device.
2. Next year he will just swap the plastic HD2 shell and move the buttons around and call it the ADHD2 with android 2.1.
Yeah, people here don't realize how many different phones HTC pumps out every year.
Last time I looked, HTC currently has 9 android phones in the pipeline, on top of the Magic and the Dream/G1. Chances are, a few of them will have snapdragon (or equivalent), capacitive 4.3" WVGA+ screen, and other goodies.
This guy sounds kinda like a pimp. I want my Android.
Oh well, thats what hacking was made for.
This isn't saying "screw you Android guys!" it's saying "don't bite the hand that has been feeding you for 13 years". Seriously, HTC has been the leading maker of WinMo handsets for years...not just under the HTC flag but for the countless OEM's that they make devices for. All you Android people need to just calm down and wait, there will eventually be a device like the HD2 that runs Android, you just gotta wait for it.
That HTC CEO should be prepared to fall on a sword when investors come calling about why their stock is going to hell. Because this fool can't leave MicroShyte WinMoan by the wayside where it belongs. He doesn't seem to understand that Android is the place to be for all of HTC's smartphones. Back a loser and become a loser. Saying that Windows innovation has been a little slow is really oversimplifying a terrible situation. The whole industry is speeding past Windows Mobile. One of Steve Ballmer's rounding errors that was completely overlooked.
You do realize that this, "whole industry" you are talking about LIVES on WinMo and BB OS right? Android will NEVER penetrate the business sector like WinMo or BB have. NEVER. Nor will the iPhone for that matter. You claim that the industry is leaving WinMo behind is invalid. Yeah everything else may look nicer, but businesses will never adopt Android, the enterprise support is just not there.
That "MicroShyte WinMoan" stuff is as played out as the new Mac ads. Step it up, Cupertino.
I didn't know the average white boy is a business man.
Winmo is not really a consumer OS.
And how would HTC Stock go down when their stock was built up with winmo?
"The company's growth has accelerated dramatically after being chosen by Microsoft as a hardware platform development partner for the Windows Mobile operating system (based on Windows CE). HTC's sales revenue totalled $2.2 billion for 2005, a 102% increase from the previous year. It was listed as the fastest growing tech company in BusinessWeek's Info Tech 100."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Corporation
@Christian
Don't be so sure. I agree with you on Apple, but you have got to remember who's backing Android up. If GooG strikes deals and has a good development program, you bet you @$$ it will penetrate. The ONLY way it won't is if the same company that makes the businesses' OS does their hardest to make sure taht WinMo 7 integrates flawlessly with Win XP/7, and makes deals with big dogs for exclusivity.
GooG already has Sync, (exchange (though somewhat broken)), Mobile OS, good Browser, Apps for business, Online Office Suite, and with Wave they have collaboration. They're also coming out with a Desktop OS (we'll see how good it is). Combine everything flawlessly with great integration, be at least on PAR with MS capabilities, cut the price by 3/4 to 1/2 for businesses, and make it that you don't have to be a rocket science to manage it (read:LINUX), and you bet big businesses will bite.
You are indeed an average white boy....
@Christian Walters
The iPhone supports enough of Exchange right now for it to be an approved phone for my company, and we haven't upgraded to Exchange 2007 yet. With Android 2.0 there will be more Exchange support than the iPhone, so I don't see why it isn't a contender for the corporate environment.
WinMoan? i would've gone with WinGroan. WinMoan makes it sound like WinMo turns you on sexually, which, while very creepy, would say good things about WinMo.
also, go fall in a well.
He also said HTC was going to concentrate on a few lines of phones, rather than spam the market with cheap, overpriced variations of phones. I like that news.
Hopefully Android will be ported to this device soon on XDA. I'd rather this have Windows Mobile than Android, since it'll qualify for an upgrade for Windows Mobile 7. For those of you who are disappointed? Too bad, there are plenty of android devices on the market now! Quit complaining.
Tragic. I really like this device. Looks nice and has the hardware to cure my tech side. I have always been a MS fan, and know the amazing possibilities of the winmo platform, but the fact is no rom or app transforms winmo into a user friendly OS like android. Maybe they will make the same device with a keyboard for android :) and hopefully when the do, t-mobile doesn't take it and make it look like crap with some crappy brown plastic.
he pretty much just told xda-dev to start making this an android phone
Exactly! Everyone pisses and moans when HTC releases something WinMo instead of Android, but what all the dumbasses don't know is that Android can be run from almost any WinMo device out there at full speed and with full compatability withing a few months of the devices release. So essentially you get a device that can run two complete OS'es. My point being that if you buy an Android device, that is all you are gonna run. With WinMo, you get 2 for one.
except that not many from xda will be able to make all the drivers from scratch for a completely new set of hardware. They could barely do it when the hardware in the android phones and winmo phones were similar.
@ Byan
Here you are wrong. For instance, HTC is bring out a 1Ghz Android Device that uses the same Snapdragon as the HD2. In other words, because the snapdragon is a SOC design, with most off the hardware in this SOC, its actually more easy to port the drivers from that device, on the HD2.
Thats the nice thing when many devices start using the same Snapdragon SOC...
WWWHHHYYY!!! I would buy this phone instantly. I would even ditch my beloved iPhone. Android is getting more and more interesting. I want my android. It doesnt matter if the phone is $800 i would still buy it. This phone with android would give apple a run for its money.
can somebody call the whaaaaaambulance?
I did.. but his commented fainted !
"take care of Windows Mobile"? That's funny, because beside his name I thought it said CEO of HTC. I wonder how his board and shareholders feel about him taking care of Microsoft instead of HTC; i mean, it's got to be good for your bottom line to pay a licensing fee for an outdated OS on every single device your produce, instead of getting the latest-greatest one for free. Might want to check with Accounting on that little idea, Pete.
And good call on being picky over what devices you guys make. Maybe you should make some on the hottest system in the entire tech world right now. You know, instead of the older one, that everyone hated anyway. Just sayin.
I totally agree, here we are (the consumer) that would buy this device in a heartbeat if it were running android. So he will ignore the consumer demand, to continue to please microsoft (who is probably paying them off to make more winmo handsets than android)
Just so you guys know, I'm a consumer, and I WANT this baby running WinMo. Y'all can be haters of WinMo, but senseless bashing is stupid.
Windows Mobile made HTC and HTC kept Windows Mobile alive all these years so it's not like they're just gonna go throw all that out the window. Plus HTC has a lot of serious business customers who are used to running their apps that they need on their Windows Mobile handsets. You think they're just gonna tell their millions of customers who've been paying for $600 handsets to go jump off a bridge? rotflmao
Android is better for regular consumers certainly but for power users and business people Windows Mobile is still it. That's why the Touch Pro 2 gets dual microphones and dual speakerphones and a keyboard-total overkill for a casual user.
My first smartphone was an htc back in 2004 $550 before they started branding them.
They have so many models. Is it possible to be a duo fanboy ?
"Technically, we could make the HD2 an Android phone, but I have to take care of Windows Mobile"
In some way this makes sense. There is a market for Windows Mobile phones and HTC has to make sure to stay on top of it.
In other ways it doesn't. Windows mobile, just like Android are components. Components used to build a product. If a new component comes along that is better than the one you are currently using, replace the old one. You don't need to "take care of" it.
In the end, as the article says, this doesn't mean that we won't see an HD2-like phone running Android from HTC. All it means is that it won't be the HD2.
maybe people in the biz realize its not a better component but just a different one? I think thats probably the main difference between him and the average commenting know nothing.
Makes sense to me...
Either way though I'm sticking my iPhone.
Go ahead and downrank me for mentioning the iPhone. For the life of me I'll never understand why all you geeks and losers who hate Apple come to this website which you claim daily has a "apple bias". If you think that they STOP coming to Engadget...
If you don't like news about the iPhone or other Apple products go somewhere else. No one is forcing you to buy the iPhone or come to Engadget.
Haters...
I up ranked you :D Cause what you said is so true. If this had android i might of switched but i guess ill have to stick with my iPhone.
Point is, nobody cares if you stick to your iphone.
I downranked you because your iPhone rant is completely off topic.
The point is that you jealous lil babies bitch and whine about a phone you don't even own while secretly wishing that it was coming to Verizon or Sprint or where ever and in the meantime you champion any 2nd rate device coming from any manufacturer out there as long as it's not Apple.
Bottom line is the iPhone revolutionized the phone industry. The truth is that the App Store changed the way consumers look at phones. The cold hard facts are that the "Droid", the Palm Pre, the Hero, and every single other iPhone wannabe has so far FAILED to live up to the hype of the iPhone or deliver numbers even approaching the level of success that the "Jesus Phone" has accomplished.
And even more importantly for all you angry haters out there who come up with your nitpicky lists of why the iPhone isn't a "smartphone" isn't "good enough" for you there are millions of owners who disagree and are perfectly content and blissfully happy with the iPhone....
Like me for instance. And that's not say that the HTC HD2 is a bad phone. It's just not an "iPhone killer".
@ falcon
Not to throw water on your self-important whine, but I'm an ATT customer, have been for probably longer than you've had your grown-up voice.
The network is tolerable in Denver, and they are the only US carrier that shares some frequencies with the rest of the world, so I can import real phones.
Is far as complaints about the iPhone, just one, but it's a deal breaker. The fixed battery, As an adult, I use my phone a lot, for important things. And none of the iPhones would last a whole work day for me.
As far as the iPhone having millions of satisfied users, so did the RAZR. But, you probably had one of those too.
Just because something's good enough for you doesn't mean it's good enough for me. I have standards.
@ Theli
I disagree with you that there is much of a market for WM at this point. You can't say it's business users, cause they're generally going to be directed toward Blackberries. And it's not the "fun" market, cause those who can stomach poor calling service will get iPhones. Win Mobile filled the void for the rest of us for a while, but with the advent of Android, and on a top-tier carrier, even this demographic goes away.
I'm no expert on this or anything, but that's the way it seems to me. what viable market does WM have left now? Even with the savior that WM7 is hoped to be, they'll be almost a year behind. By then Android will be on over 50+ phone devices alone, not to mention netbooks, video players, and such. It's free. How does Microsoft compete with that? and why would manufacturers pay for that? Maybe i'm missing something important, but I don't think so.
Excuse you. I get great calling service with my iPhone.
Your theory is based on speculation and faith. Android still hasn't taken off as a platform and it's not helped by the lack of quality phones. It's currently suffering from the same problems as WinMo - underpowered devices, tiny screens and a lacklustre interface - so why should it do any better? Because it's slightly open source? Because you prefer Google to Microsoft?
**** Windows Mobile.
*YAWN*
This "CEO" guy should be fire a.s.a.p. he surely doesn't know what's good for his company, he's not a visionary, unless he's seeing dollars from Microsoft(evil empire).
who cares about Windows Mobile, a bloated, unsatble smartphone platform.
Android now has FREE navigation!!!!
Oh, and the iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone sucks.
Who wants to satble with a mobile OS anyway ?
I wouldn't mind satbling with your mother's mobile OS.
HTC has gone from the hot handset maker to......... Motorola for the Droid!?!
Why can't we have both? Doesn't it seem logical to sell 1 really good piece of hardware with both WM and Android and let the user pick? Certainly the technology exist that allows dual-booting or at least allow the user to choose one or the other, and it formats itself with that OS.
Well F you very much HTC.
If Motorola respects me enough to put Android on high end hardware then I will give them my business.
It's very simple.
Look at the growth trends.
You want to give the good stuff to WM 6.5.1.2.34??
When WM 7 comes out Android will be near 3.0.
You don't need a crystal ball to see where this is going...
Thats some very interesting comments about Andriod, maybe they are considering picking up Symbian or Maemo in 2010-11.
Have you even used HD2?
OOPS! I wasn't saying he Phone was shit, I meant the news was shit!
I want a phone of the same spec with Andorid!
I can see the confusion.
@ EGOvoruhk
I Understand that Win Mo has been helping them eat all this time....without them Htc may not have made it this far...however when Win Mo became one of the most Despised Mobile OS and Htc stuck with them....instead of just fully jumping ship and making every product Android they shot themselves in the foot...Well whatever we'll just see what Win Mo 7 brings..i hope MS can turn this around
P.S
Engadget's Comment system needs work...
Microsoft has over 90,000 employees with about 36,000 in research and development. Personally I blame the management as there is no doubt that Microsoft has the talent and brains to make great software. Microsoft needs new management who can ensure that the resources available are put to best use.