HTC to conquer China with its Android Magic smartphone
HTC Magic, the world’s second Android-based handset, might go on sale in China as soon as next month.
The smartphone will hit China as a slightly different version of the European Magic, and it will be sold via China Mobile. Since the largest Chinese carrier uses TD-SCDMA 3G technology instead of the standard UMTS, the Chinese HTC Magic might be TD-SCDMA capable.
According to The Wall Street Journal, HTC’s CEO Peter Chou confirmed the upcoming release of the Magic via China Mobile. He further said that the company is also considering launching Android phones through China Unicom and China Telecom.
The Magic is the first Android device to be officially released in the world’s largest mobile market. HTC expects to sell about 800,000 units of it across China by the end of 2009, thus doubling its handsets sales in the country (the handset maker sold about 800,000 smartphones last year, all of them running on Windows Mobile).
Since China Mobile failed to negotiate an iPhone release with Apple, the Magic will be a good alternative to the Cupertino company’s smartphone, which might be introduced by China Unicom later this year.
The Chinese HTC Magic could have a retail price of around 5,000 yuan (about $730 or €520), but this is yet to be confirmed.
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