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HTC and Telefonica strike smartphone deal

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CIOL Bureau
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BARCELONA,SPAIN: Device vendor HTC and Telefonica announced an exclusive deal at Mobile World Congress on Wednesday that aims to bring smartphone connectivity at an affordable price.

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Running Qualcomm’s Brew platform, the HTC Smart will be available in Telefonica’s operations in Germany, Ireland and the UK from April. The length of the arrangement was not revealed.

Steve Alder, vice president of devices at Telefonica Europe, welcomed the new deal which, he said, built on the long relationship the operator has had with HTC. “We will be selling the HTC Smart at less than half the cost of smartphones today,” he commented. “This will enable us to address new markets, particularly the 16-22 year old group, where currently smartphone penetration is low.” Although Alder would not be drawn on cost, it is expected that Telefonica O2 will price the Smart at around €120.

Responding to concerns that increasing smartphone ownership would overtax the already heavily loaded O2 networks, Alder said the operator was addressing this issue. “During 2010 we will roll out 1500 new cell sites in the UK. In the last two months we have deployed 40 base stations in London alone to meet the high level of demand.”

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Introducing the Smart, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said the company’s vision was to bring smartphones to the masses. “People all over the world want smarter phones but are often discouraged by the twin issues of affordability and complexity.”

The HTC Smart includes the vendor’s Sense user interface. Users are able to customise their phones using a variety of widgets for quick access to contacts, photos, music, weather and more.

Speaking at at the launch, Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, said: “The HTC Smart is a budget-friendly smartphone that delivers a really exciting user experience.”

 (SOURCE: MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS)

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