Palm chose HTC over Inventec for Treo Pro?

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 23rd 2008 at 11:02AM

We thought it was funny in a nerdy, chortle-quietly-to-ourselves sort of way when we realized that HTC would essentially be competing with itself this fall in the very upper echelon of the Windows Mobile market by releasing the Touch Pro and making the X1 for Sony Ericsson. Now it seems that they're adding at least one more player into the mix -- just for sport, we suppose -- if DigiTimes' claim that the contract for Palm's Treo Pro has gone to HTC is correct. Recently, Palm has favored Inventec over HTC for many of its models -- though the on-again, off-again relationship with Peter Chou's company stretches all the way back to the Treo's early days, so there's definitely some precedent. That, and the fact that HTC seems to really know what it's doing lately.

[Thanks, Marios S.]

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Palm, Windows Mobile

Tags: htc, inventec, palm, treo, treo pro, TreoPro

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RCC2k8 @ Aug 23rd 2008 12:13PM

Why is this a surprise? It was said that the Treo Pro will have the HTC Task Manager. That should've given away the fact that HTC is the one making the Treo Pro for Palm.

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doubleu @ Aug 23rd 2008 1:25PM

Will the Treo Pro have a mini-usb connector for its syncing/charging? I hope so! Those proprietary Palm connectors are very much "teh sux".

Neutral

edhardy3 @ Aug 24th 2008 2:30PM

Yes, it uses a mini-USB port for syncing and charging. Unlike most of HTC's devices, it will also have a separate 3.5-mm headset jack.

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Neutral

Blowfish64 @ Aug 23rd 2008 1:55PM

Ah crap. I was looking forward to this thing. The only thing HTC knows how to do really well is cut corners and shaft the consumer in the process.

Highly Ranked

RCC2k8 @ Aug 23rd 2008 3:12PM

@Blowfish64: This is not one of those cookie-cutter devices from HTC that every carrier will get branded with a different model (aka Kaiser/TyTN II/Tilt, etc.). The Treo Pro is built by HTC based on Palm's specs and requirements so they can't cut that many corners. In fact, the Treo 750 was also built by HTC and it was a decent device. I had the Treo 750 and sold it because I couldn't get use to Palm's excessive hacking of the WM OS - I preferred HTC devices on the software side though not on the hardware side. I expect the Treo Pro to also feel different from HTC's current lineup.

Neutral

Darkflight @ Aug 23rd 2008 3:29PM

Whethere you like/dislike HTC, you have to at least give them props for 1) creating unique designs, 2) making Windows Mobile a viable platform, and 3) getting something out that is dinstinctively different from past Palm designs...

Lowest Ranked

Jerry @ Aug 23rd 2008 3:52PM

How is it that no one realizes that is a totally photoshopped picture? Someone clearly layered the HTC logo on the back of that phone. How does that become news??

Highly Ranked

Chris Ziegler @ Aug 23rd 2008 3:55PM

We made the picture. The news was the DigiTimes article, not the picture.

Neutral

Derek @ Aug 23rd 2008 5:20PM

If you are not joking, you are very dumb my friend.

Low Ranked

Jerry @ Aug 23rd 2008 11:45PM

Nope...just proving that someone would flame me. Point proven, thanks!

Low Ranked

Jerry @ Aug 23rd 2008 11:47PM

Nope, not dumb. Just proving that someone would flame me. Thanks for proving that point!

Neutral

Patrick Horne @ Aug 24th 2008 10:33AM

I sense that genius is somewhere near.

Neutral

Malatesta @ Aug 23rd 2008 4:05PM

In agreement with RCC2k8

When you open the Treo Pro it even has a little card that says "Inspired by and Designed in California" --so Palm does the designing/engineering (to some degree) and HTC executes. Palm is still doing their OS mods to it, which is really the bigger deal about Palm WM devices imo.

@doubleu
It uses microUSB

Neutral

dennis @ Aug 23rd 2008 5:46PM

It doesn't sound like HTC is competing against itself, it sounds like it's going to sell more phones that are Android compatible.

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Unbiased @ Aug 24th 2008 12:43AM

If Palm wants to remain competitive, they should make an Android device.

Neutral

Patrick Horne @ Aug 24th 2008 12:07PM

Hey,
Maybe that's what Nova is! Android with Palm "enhancements" to bring it back to BT1.0, limit it to VGA rez cams, 32mbRAM, and a 1K clipboard. Pretty exciting I think.

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Josh @ Aug 24th 2008 1:59PM

HTC isn't competing with itself. It's just putting it's eggs in all the baskets instead of only one. They used to be an OEM manufacturer for HP's PDA's too

I'll admit that some of HTC's models are of shoddy quality, but treo fans are notably hardcore about their zfavorite PDA/phone, and HTC and palm know this. The treo 750 was simply a Hermes in a different shell, but was well known in circles to be built on a completely higher level of quality than the tytn/8525 was built.

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Ed Hardy @ Aug 24th 2008 10:00PM

Palm has already announced it won't be using Android. It's goal in creating Palm OS II/Nova is to give it an operating system that it controls.

The company that will primarily control Android is Google, and a truck-load of other companies will have a say in its development. Pal didn't want to be part of a committee debating what goes into the operating system that will power its devices.

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