Taiwan's HTC Corp. announced Thursday that it has joined various other mobile device makers in backing Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system, extending the two companies' long mobile partnership, Taiwan's offical Central News Agency reported.
The world's No. 5 smartphone vendor said it will bring new Windows Phone 8 smartphones to market later this year, as the Taoyuan-based company has sold more than 40 million phones using Microsoft software over the past 12 years.
"HTC is committed to Windows Phone more than ever and we are excited to be bringing new Windows Phone 8-enabled smartphones to customers later this year," HTC CEO Peter Chou said in a statement.
Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone at Microsoft, said that HTC is one of Microsoft's closest partners and shares a common goal of driving innovation, which makes it easy for the two companies to work together, the news agency reported.