HTC to take a stake in Dopod

Dopod was thought to be majority owned by Cher Wang, who just happens to be HTC's chairwoman. However, Dopod's CFO, Kenny Yang, told the FT that no more than 50 per cent of his company is owned by its own executives.

Dopod accounts for some five per cent of HTC's revenues. It's a major manufacturer of Windows Mobile based smartphones which incorporate the Beast's own 'push' email technology.

One of Dopod's most attractive products is the StrTrk S300. Oddly enough, that phone is currently only available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia. One wonders what Gene Rodenberry would say about Dopod using that designation in the USA.

Anyway, the S300 is a kind of mixture between a Motorola RAZR and a Walkman phone. It is only 15.8mm thick and weighs just 99 grams.

If Dopod does become more tightly integrated with HTC, maybe we'll see the S300 appear in Europe. After all, it's a quad band GSM phone. µ