Having made their name as one of the top manufacturers of Windows Mobile phones it was a little bit of a surprise to us here at Compare and Recycle when HTC became the first company to manufacture an Android phone, The G1. Since the release of the G1 HTC have continued to release Android handsets and have gained a reputation as one of the biggest supporters of Android.
While support for Android has continued to grow, Windows Mobile almost disappeared completely while Microsoft switched their attention to Windows Phone 7. With Microsoft making their mobile comeback HTC have been left with a decision to make, do they go back to the platform where they made their name, continue to support Android or back both and potentially dominate two of the biggest mobile operating systems.
According to HTC CEO Peter Chou the Taiwanese company will continue to support both platforms with equal focus on each. The decision to let consumers decide which platform they will back could really pay off for HTC since Windows Phone 7 and Android could quite happily coexist, meaning HTC could have a much larger number of potential customers.
Having already released some of the most popular and successful Android phones it looks like HTC will be just as important to the success of Windows Phone 7 as they were to Windows Mobile 6. Some of the most impressive Windows Phone 7 handsets shown so far were manufactured by HTC and networks are already scrambling to pick up these models exclusively. So far O2 have the HD7, Orange have the 7 Mozart and Vodafone have the 7 Trophy.
The battle between Android and Windows Phone 7 is yet to officially begin, but by backing both sides HTC will surely to be winners no matter which operating system proves to be the most popular.