Taipei, April 8 Taiwan’s HTC Corp. should pay
attention to the challenges that it will face in its new partnership with
Facebook, the founder of Taiwanese computer vendor Acer Inc. said Monday.
“It is likely to help (HTC's) branding, but it also might
create some challenges in such a competitive-cooperative relationship,” Stan
Shih told ,when asked about the impact of the HTC-Facebook tie-up on the
sidelines of a local forum on promoting Taiwanese brands.
One of the possible challenges, he said, is “how to let each
take what it needs,” a reference to the idea that Taiwanese companies tend to
lose most of their benefits when they partner with overseas firms.
Shih made the comment after HTC and Facebook unveiled a
customized phone in the United States April 4 equipped with the social
networking site's new software for Android devices.
The HTC First phone, which will run the new software called
Facebook Home, will be sold exclusively in the U.S. from April 12 via American
telecom carrier AT&T Inc. for US$99.99, with a two-year contract.
Facebook said its Home app, which will work on Android
phones, does not try to replace Android but serves as a launcher that boots
when the phone boots and can customize the home screen, add apps and perform
other tasks on Android devices.
The new software will only be initially available through
HTC First, which features a 4.3-inch display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating
system and Qualcomm Inc.’s 1.4-gigahertz dual-core processor.
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