HTC testing new phone models

HTC Corp has begun testing new phone models that work around technology cited in a patent lawsuit won by arch-rival Apple Inc, and HTC's chief executive voiced optimism over the company's ability to meet challenging market conditions.

Speaking to media at the company's Taiwan headquarters alongside Google Inc's senior vice president of mobile, Andy Rubin, CEO Peter Chou said that the company would be working with Google to protect itself from "unfair" means to stop innovation.

"This industry should not allow one company use its powerful weapon to stop other innovation and take it all...this is not fair," Chou said.

The patent suit between HTC and Apple was widely seen as a proxy for a larger fight between Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS. Android phones dominate Apple in the Asia-Pacific region.

The result, in which HTC was found to have infringed one of four patents Apple had centered its case on, leaves the way open for both camps to continue their competition in the courts.

Rubin said, "This is just the beginning. It will play out in the next couple of years," he said, but added that he was optimistic there would eventually be "patent peace."

The company slashed its fourth-quarter revenue forecast last month and earlier this month reported a 30 percent drop in November sales from the previous month and a 20 percent fall from a year ago, the first annual sales decline in two years.

That triggered concerns over its ability to cope with stiff competition from Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy range and accelerated a fall in its shares, which now stand at about half of their peak for the year.

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