The chief executive officer of High-Tech Computer (HTC) Corp. said that the company plans to release its first phones supporting long-term evolution (LTE) 4G connection technology in 2011. In addition, he said that the company will continue to pursue multi operating system strategy and implied that the company may also release a tablet.

"We are working on LTE device for next year, 2011. We think the U.S. mobile operator will be taking some leading and pushing the LTE 4G in the U.S. market, but however, we are seeing the rest of world will be deploying LTE network elsewhere in 2011, could be second half of 2011," said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC, in an interview with Mobile World Live.

At present MetroPCS operator offers LTE network in several major cities of the U.S. and also sells the first LTE smartphone, Samsung Craft. Verizon Wireless also operates LTE networks in major areas of the U.S., but only offers USB modems and plans to start selling LTE-supporting handsets in mid-2011. AT&T plans to launch its own 4G LTE network in the first half of 2011. Many operators over the world are also advertising their 4G networks now.

With the release of 4G LTE smartphones by HTC, consumers will be able to take advantage of increased connection speeds provided by the new network standard using their handsets. In fact, this will be a real roll-out of the 4G LTE tech.

Although the share of Microsoft Windows for mobile phones has been decreasing recently, HTC will continue to release smartphones based on different operating systems. In fact, HTC may also build a tablet PC if there is market demand.

“[Customers] may want Windows or Android, or they may want big screen or small screen, they may want keyboard or tablet. HTC will let the consumer decide,” said Mr. Chou.

Tags: HTC, Android, Windows, LTE, 4G, Samsung, Verizon, AT&T, MetroPCS