Who is HTC?

Today, NY Times has an article about HTC, a Taiwan handset manufacturer. The HTC chairwoman Cher Wang is the daughter of Yongqin Wang, the second richest guy in Taiwan.

According to that article, "The Windows Mobile operating system powers 12 percent of smartphones sold worldwide and 20 percent of smartphones sold in the United States. HTC accounts for roughly half of those devices."

But if you ask people in US or even graduate students from Asia, they may not know HTC. Why? Because it works as "a contract manufacturer for companies like Compaq, Palm and many cellphone carriers, who stamped their own brands on the products."

"About two years ago, HTC decided to come out of the shadows with an ambitious goal: establish a global consumer electronics brand that its executives hope will become synonymous with quality."

Just like PC components and other electronics, I expect that there will be more competition from manufacturers in Taiwan and China mainland in the smartphone market. US smartphone market is different from those in Europe and Asia. In Europe and Asia, Symbian OS has a great percentage of share while it has only a tiny share in US; in US, it is shared by RIM, Access, Microsoft, and Apple.