No-name giant behind the iPaq comes to London

HTC – the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that supplies brandless devices to Dell, HP, Orange, Palm and Vodafone to name a few – has opened its doors in the UK.

The Taipei-based company behind the iPaq and Orange's SPV smart phones has decided to open a European office to get closer to its customers in the continent and shorten development time for new devices.

Founded in 1997, HTC was the first phone maker to introduce a device based on Windows Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 5.0. In the UK O2, Orange and T-Mobile all use HTC for their own-brand devices.

Vivek Bandrinath, EVP at Orange, said: "It's pretty unique, the degree of operator involvement... There's a lot of fairies round these cribs. It gives us pretty nice babies at the end."

The OEM is to remain a confirmed Microsoft user – HTC CEO Peter Chou said today the company has no plans to consider any other operating system, including Symbian.

He said: "We are the sort of company that is very focused on doing a good job well in one area. We are happy with our relationship with Microsoft."

Chou also added that the OEM has no intention of turning its attention to the low end. "We deliberately try to avoid those bloody competitions in the market," he said. "Those companies [such as Nokia and Motorola, which is working on a sub-$30 handset] have great size. We don't plan to compete with them."

However, smart phone watchers can expect to see more GPS for location-based services making its way onto operator-branded phones. Chou said: "GPS is in our plans."