No LTE From HTC Till Second Half Of Next Year

[WenWM]

No LTE From HTC Till Second Half Of Next Year [Update]

We have been waiting for the HTC merge for quite some time now, hoping it will be released next year with LTE support, but that does not seem to be the case. In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, Peter Chou, HTC CEO says they are working on getting an LTE enabled device in our pockets, but they are going to make you wait for it. Peter says we should expect a device after mid-2011. This means our hopes for an HTC powered device being in the LTE lunch lineup (February) is very unlikely if the CEO has a say on the matter. Now the good news from the interview is he says we should expect Near Field Communication Technology integration with the devices they release next year. He reiterated that the companies still focused mainly on Android.

How does that sound to you guys? Can you wait till summer of next year to get your hands on an HTC built LTE Android device or will others by Motorola or Samsung suffice?

News via: MBB

Spread the word guys.

Update:
Seems we read the quote wrong, so this regard the Q2 and on part, February date back on.

 

[Jmart922]

Uh well so much for the mecha, I don't know if the merge will be affected by this because I don't think it was getting 4g or even officially stated. Well not all is lost for me after seeing the LG star, damn that phone is hot, and the moto etna, I guess ill have to wait and see, here's hoping samsung starts pumping out orion phones sooner then htc cause I'm curious how their processor stacks up against the tegra 2

 

[johnomaz]

I hope these delays are because of trying to extend battery life with LTE unlike the 4G from Sprint.

 

[iamlost87]

So what exactly does this mean for the merge? Is it going to come out Jan? Feb? Or is it going to wait for a 4g radio and we won't see it released until July or August? By then it will be underpowered compared to all the dual-core phones slated to be released.

 

[beargold23]

Debunk: US HTC LTE Phones Not Delayed Until Mid-2011

Debunk: US HTC LTE Phones Not Delayed Until Mid-2011


Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, stated that the Taiwanese manufacturer is working on LTE devices which can be expected to hit the U.S. market in 2011 (and not second half of 2011 as you might have seen elsewhere).

Opposed to other Internet reports you might have read that refer to a second half of 2011 launch window for LTE powered HTC devices in the U.S., we need to make it clear that Peter Chou has not mentioned this in the interview. As a matter of fact, Peter Chou only mentioned 2011 for HTC LTE devices -- without being specific -- and the second half of 2011 bit came related to LTE technology being deployed elsewhere, by other operators.

There were rumors the HTC Merge was delayed because the manufacturer needed to put an LTE radio in the device so Peter Chou's statement comes along nice with the story. In the same interview for Mobile World Live, Peter Chou said that HTC is aiming for one of the top supplying spots with regards to LTE equipped devices with the U.S. carriers, Verizon and MetroPCS already operating the new technology and AT&T in the works to provide it. Having the "portfolio strategy" in mind, HTC's LTE devices will be based on Android and Windows Phone 7 platforms giving the consumer the choice for the platform flavor (carriers might have a word to say about this though).

Source: Mobile Business Briefing

 

[pandabear]

Debunk: US HTC LTE Phones Not Delayed Until Mid-2011

thanks for that, the whole delay till the middle of next year didn't really make sense

 

[Inkarnit]

Regardless, Hello Moto.

 

[BUFFALOMADMAN]

if the incredible waits that long than it looks like it would fail. By then there will be 30 phones with lte and tegra 2 so I think whoever gets those bad boys out first meaning the tegra 2 lte gingerbread or honeycomb are going to be the winners not the ones that are waiting until mid 2011 by then it will be old news