HTC’s Magic mobile handset is pulling a Houdini and escaping to China under the alias “OPhone.” HTC currently has the only smartphone featuring Google’s Android on the market, the T-Mobile G1. To expand its Android offering, before other device makers get in the market as well, HTC will be bringing its Magic smartphone to a number of countries including the UK and Canada, but critically it will also go to China Mobile, with some specific modifications.
HTC CEO Peter Chou told The Wall Street Journal that the OPhone is being set up to compete directly with the iPhone, which is expected to be offered by China Unicom by the end of the year.
The OPhone will be similar to the G1, but it’s ditching the full QWERTY keyboard and is going more the touchscreen route. It’s expected to run Android 1.5 with some modifications unique to China Mobile. It should be somewhat of a high-end device, so expect Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and lots of multimedia abilities.
This move is a major signal of just how important the Chinese market is to mobile, just in terms of sheer potential customers if nothing else.
China Mobile is already the world’s largest mobile operator with more than 500 million subscribers and it still sees a lot of potential to grow in its markets.
Chinese users are also upgrading to better and more sophisticated mobiles all the time, giving the Ophone a good market to aim at. The phone is due out next month in China and if the offering is compelling, it could get a good head start in combating the iPhone that will eventually follow.