Taipei, Aug. 14, 2008 (CENS)--After months of cooperation with Google.com and T-Mobile, the Taiwan-based High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), a supplier of own-brand handsets, is very likely to officially launch the world`s first mobile phones based on Google`s Android platform in the U.S. in September, according to company sources.

Development of the world`s first Android phone has drawn great attention of consumers all around the world for a long time. Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, has recently iterated that his company would definitely launch the phone by this Christmas. Industry insiders even projected shipment of the phone to total 1 million units at the end of this year.

In fact, a few Taiwanese suppliers of handset parts have shipped related components for the Android phone to HTC starting this month, and some opined that HTC may probably debut the phone in September. The phone will be reportedly sold by T-Mobile, selling for US$399 per unit without a contract or US$150 with a two-year contract.

According to HTC, the Android phone is a sliding model and adopts a Qwerty keyboard, a touch screen and a 300 mega-pixel camera. Also, the phone is compatible with 3G communication and built with Gmail, Google Map and related Internet functions provided by Google. The phone is expected to fuel HTC`s overall shipment of mobile phones this year.

On the other hand, HTC has sold around 1 million HTC Diamond smartphones since their debut, and the figure is estimated to smoothly exceed two million units at the end of this year, causing the brand`s sales revenue to sharply grow 20-30% in the year from last year.

Besides, HTC expects its third-quarter revenue to increase 30% from a year earlier to an estimated NT$38 billion, and a gross profit rate of between 34% and 35% in the same quarter.

(by Steve Chuang)