With the busiest retail sales period of the year fast approaching, many consumer electronics companies are announcing new products. One of the latest to do so is HTC, which on Monday launched three new smartphones for its fourth quarter 2007 product portfolio in Europe.

 

The new smartphones—HTC Shift (available November), HTC S730 (available this month) and HTC P6500 (available November)—are aimed at the business user, featuring mobile computing features such as souped-up mobile messaging. HTC also announced a line of headsets intended for use with the new smartphones.

 

HTC described its Shift smartphone as a device that combines “the power of Windows Vista with always-connected 3G/HSDPA connectivity.” It features HTC’s new SnapVUE technology, which provides users with access to calendar, e-mail, SMS messaging and contacts without needing to boot up—thus extending battery life. The Shift weighs 800 grams (about 1.8 lbs.) and has a 7-inch, touch-sensitive screen.

 

The S730 is the next generation of HTC’s S710 handset, introduced earlier this year. The device has been enhanced with 3G/HSDPA connectivity, a 400MHz processor, and 256MB Flash memory. It features an ‘auto-sliding’ QWERTY keyboard and comes with Windows Mobile 6 installed.

 

HTC is gearing its P6500 smartphone for use by enterprise workers in various vertical industries such as police forces and hospitals. The company describes this phone as ‘future-proofed’ and ‘versatile,’ offering “the ideal features to be overlaid with programmes tailored to meet the specific needs of each enterprise.” It has a 3.5-inch screen, and a 3 megapixel camera with barcode and fingerprint scanning capabilities, 256MP internal memory (expandable to 1GB with two SD card slots)), 3G/HSPDA connectivity and GPS capabilities.

 

Florian Seiche, vice president at HTC Europe, expressed satisfaction regarding the company’s reputation in the mobile phone industry for innovation and high-quality products, and said the new phones continue this tradition.

 

“The Q4 line up exemplifies the breadth of HTC’s portfolio – setting new standards with the HTC Shift and extending the choice of devices that we offer to our business user audience,” Seiche said in a statement.

 

Scott Horn, general manager at Microsoft’s (News - Alert) mobile communications business, added that Microsoft wants customer to be able to do more with their phones, and HTC’s products further that mission.

 

“We’re excited about these latest additions to HTC’s expanding portfolio because customers have the flexibility of finding the right Windows Mobile phone to suite their style at work, at home or on the go,” Horn said in a statement.

 

---

---