Following Apple announcing its intention to sue HTC for patent infringement in relation to the iPhone’s touch user interface, HTC has come out to defend itself, adding that it was the company that brought out the first 3.5-inch colour touchscreen smart phone in the US in 2002.
“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation.
“HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.”
With a roll call of industry firsts, including the first Windows PDA (1998), first Windows Phone (June 2002), first gesture-based smart phone (June 2007) and first Google Android smart phone (October 2008), the message was loud and clear: HTC says it is an innovative company and has not copied Apple by infringing on its iPhone patents.
“From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smart phone. In 1999, we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smart phones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smart-phone models shipping since then,” added Chou.
By Marie Boran
Photo: The HTC Desire – one of the firm’s latest touchscreen smart phones
