Sony Ericsson buys HTC design for future phone

Sony Ericsson has placed a massive order with fellow cellphone maker HTC, says the Chinese-language Commercial Times. The former will reportedly receive over one million phones in 2008, an amount so large that it should account for 10 to 20 percent of all of HTC's expected shipments for the year. HTC, creators of proprietary designs such as the Touch and TyTN II, also makes a number of reference designs for companies around the world; it has never taken ODM orders from Sony Ericsson however, who is said to be the first A-list cellphone vendor in its roster.

Most importantly, the new phone is planned to use Windows Mobile -- an operating system found on all HTC smartphones, but which has never been used before on anything by Sony Ericsson. Phones such as the W580i use variants of Symbian, a more universal OS. The decision to go with HTC then represents a radical departure for Sony Ericsson, which may be repositioning itself in the marketplace. [via DigiTimes]