HTC looking at owning its own OS

HTC, who has been very successful using the operating systems of others, is now considering getting one of its very own.

“We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify” having our own system, Cheng Hui-ming, chief financial officer of the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

“There are many multiple factors to be considered together, rather than a simple statement as to own or not to own” proprietary software, Cheng said.

HTC is widely believed to be making a play for Palm, which of course comes with its webOS baggage. Cheng however declined to comment on whether HTC has studied Palm for possible acquisition.

HTC has no timeframe for deciding whether to have its own platform, he said.

Some analysts favour the move, noting the most successful players such as Apple and RIM all own their own software.

“If you look at the successful smartphone players, like Apple and Research in Motion, a reason for their success is that they have their own platform,” said Steven Tseng, who rates HTC “buy” at RBS Asia Ltd. in Taipei and favours the company having its own operating system in the long term. “The negative is the amount of resources they’d need to allocate.”

Samsung has recently thrown its own hat in the ring with their Bada offering, and Nokia of course bought Symbian last year, making HTC the odd man out in the top 5 smartphone rankings.