“High Tech Computer (HTC) celebrated its 10th anniversary on Thursday with a rare compliment from Apple: the company adopted the same name HTC uses on one of its smartphones for the iPod Touch,” Dan Nystedt reports for IDG News Service.
Nystedt reports, “HTC, the Taiwanese handset and PDA (personal digital assistant) maker, earlier this year launched the HTC Touch, a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS smartphone designed with one-touch screen features, viewed by many as a rival to the iPhone.”
MacDailyNews Take: Many? Who, exactly? Does the HTC Touch really look like a credible rival to Apple’s iPhone? Let’s take a look:
Apple’s iPhone:
HTC Touch:
‘Nuff said.
Nystedt continues, “Upon hearing of the name of the new iPod, HTC president and CEO Peter Chou said, ‘HTC Touch is a trademark, but I can’t comment right now,’ on whether HTC might file suit against the company.”
“A trademark lawyer in Taipei, speaking on condition of anonymity, said descriptive words normally can’t be trademarked, but added that if the HTC Touch and the iPod touch share similar functions, such as allowing users to play digital music, then Apple may face a legal hassle. The HTC Touch does allow for digital music storage and playing,” Nystedt reports.
More in the full article here.