By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Taiwan smartphone maker, HTC, unveiled its much-anticipated new product, Desire, to the Korean media Thursday.
In a lavish news conference, HTC chief executive Peter Chou expressed confidence that Desire and another new phone, HD2, will do significantly better than the company's earlier releases, Touch Diamond and Touch Dual, which are now labeled as disappointments.
Desire, powered by the Google-backed Android operating system, is basically a slightly upgraded version of the Google Nexus One, which was also manufactured by HTC.
``Desire enables the richest experience of any smartphone that is available today and we believe Korean consumers will recognize this,'' Chou said, who declined to reveal sales targets.
The company will collaborate with SK Telecom, its local partner, to expand after-service offices from the current 30 to 100 to curb consumer complaints about slow repair and support services.
Desire, which will be available here starting Monday at around 300,000 won (about $270), is the most intriguing device among the Android-based smartphones that has been released in Korea so far.
The handset is equipped with a 3.7-inch active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) touch screen that supports multi-touch capability, which allows the use of two fingers to zoom in and out of images, and is powered by the 1-gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that enables faster functions.
Desire represents SK Telecom's latest attempt to locate an iPhone killer, as it witnesses its bitter industry rival, KT, create a massive buzz here with Apple's do-it-all handset.
KT has sold 620,000 iPhones here since its late November release, and this has SK Telecom, the larger carrier with a 50-percent-plus market share in wireless users, looking to respond with a slew of Android-based handsets, which also includes Samsung Electronics' Galaxy A and Sony Ericsson's upcoming Xperia X10.
HTC also revealed HD2, a Windows Mobile-based smartphone that is also powered by Snapdragon and boasts a 4.3-inch display, the biggest among current smartphone models available. HD2 will be available through SK Telecom later this month.
HTC is among the quick risers in the smartphone market that is ruled by Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), which produces the globally ubiquitous BlackBerry smartphones. The company's first-quarter operating profit of $174 million was visibly better than the numbers of more notable vendors LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.