HTC Touch Diamond sales to top 2 million

Peter Chou, CEO of High Tech Computer (HTC), has said that his company is expecting to sell between 2 million and 3 million units of the HTC Touch Diamond smartphone before the end of 2008.

The Touch Diamond - predicted to be strong competition for the next generation Apple iPhone - will be sold in co-operation with mobile network operators and retailers.

The smartphone was launched in Taiwan on 13th May, with the Taiwanese network operator CHT placing an order of 20,000-30,000.

Korea are currently awaiting shipments, whilst European customers must wait until June to purchase the handset. It will not be available in the U.S. until the second half of this year.

HTC started developing the Touch Diamond in late 2006. According to Peter Chou, its most important feature - the 2.8 inch touch screen with 3D interface - caused the most difficulty in the development process.

Other features include HSDPA 7.2 Mbps internet access, HSUPA, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 4GB of internal storage, 256MB internal flash memory, 192MB RAM, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0.

The phone runs the Windows Mobile 6.1 professional operating system, and includes a dedicated YouTube video viewer.