Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

It's been a little over three weeks since news leaked that HTC were killing off their Dopod brand, which they bought over a few years back in a sweetheart deal and used in certain markets in East Asia. Now the expected denouement is in sight - HTC will be marketing their devices under their own brand name on the China mainland, with four units spearheading the effort via China Mobile on the operator side and GOME in retail. On the launchpad are the Tianxi, Tianyi, Desire and Wildfire, with the Tianxi looking to be the only one running Windows Mobile. You can read through the full press release here.

"Dopod, the brand HTC uses on the mainland, will be dropped and the first HTC-branded phone will debut at the end of this month or the start of next month, an unnamed industry source told Shanghai Daily yesterday."

Back in 2006, HTC acquired Dopod to expand its reach in Southeast Asia. As HTC has continued to grow around the world, it has maintained the use of the Dopod name in mainland China. This is about to change though, as the first HTC-branded phone will debut at the end of the month.

It will be interesting to see how this brand awareness impacts the growth of HTC. In recently announced press release HTC announced that second quarter 2010 year-over-year revenue growth was up 58.45%. The release of Windows Phone 7 over the coming months and the introduction of the brand into mainland China can only help.