Rumor: Sohu, HTC Partner on Handset App Pre-installation
Beijing Morning Post, 4/23/12
Informed sources have recently disclosed that after a year of negotiations, Taiwanese mobile handset manufacturer HTC (2498.TW) and Chinese Internet portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) will officially enter into a cooperation by which Sohu's news client will be pre-installed on two HTC One series' operator-customized handsets.
Sohu CEO and board chairman Charles Zhang recently reported that every morning and evening, over 5 mln users, all of whom are smartphone users, read Sohu's evening and morning news upon receiving it through the company's news client. At present, the service is in use on Android, iPhone, Symbian, WP7, and other smartphone operating platforms, with Android users accounting for approximately 70% of all Sohu news customers.
One industry insider confirmed that in recent years, Sohu has been quietly extending its reach into the mobile Internet sector, forging cooperations with over twenty handset manufacturers including HTC, Nokia, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Coolpad, MOTO, and Sony Ericcson to have Sohu products like Sohu news and Sohu video pre-installed onto handsets.
Keywords: client software statistics 2498.TW Charles Zhang handset smartphone wireless pre-installed HTC Sohu operator-customized HTC One handset vendor
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