New HTC, full-QWERTY device destined for Verizon breaks cover
Hi there HTC Android fans, we have another present for you! We've just been sent in a handful of images of a new, unseen HTC handset that is destined for Verizon Wireless. This sleek, all-black, full-QWERTY Android 2.2 handset …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second mystery-HTC-for-Verizon leak in a month: Boy Genius Report showed an EVO-ish slab headed for Verizon in late August, and Engadget spotted an HTC CDMA/GSM Android slider at the FCC earlier in September wearing Verizon-friendly colors. The new photos add a full-QWERTY form factor running Android 2.2 to that pipeline.
The leak lands mid-launch-cycle for Verizon: the carrier confirmed last week it will open its own V CAST Apps store on Android phones, has pushed out a wave of developer APIs from its Las Vegas developer conference, and CEO Ivan Seidenberg said tiered data pricing is coming within four to six months. Whatever this QWERTY handset turns out to be, it will arrive inside that apparatus.
First-order effects
- HTC gains a reported third hardware track at Verizon for the holiday quarter — touchscreen slab, dual-mode slider, and now full-QWERTY Android 2.2 — broadening its bet beyond the all-touch designs it has been leaking so far.
- Verizon gets another candidate for its Android lineup just as it prepares to preload V CAST Apps, meaning any new HTC ship-in becomes distribution for a store that Verizon insists is about consumer choice, not taking over the phone.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android makers on Verizon — Motorola and Samsung chief among them — face pressure to answer with their own physical-keyboard Android 2.2 offerings if the QWERTY niche proves real, rather than ceding keyboard buyers.
- If Seidenberg's four-to-six-month tiered data timeline holds, every device in this leak pipeline launches into a pricing regime where heavy data users subsidize less; keyboard-toting messaging-centric handsets could look relatively cheaper to carry than big-screen data devices.
Third-order effects
- The steady drumbeat of FCC filings and photo leaks ahead of Verizon Android launches points to a market where carriers' fall slates are effectively previewed by the enthusiast press, turning secrecy into a de facto marketing runway.
- A carrier operating its own app store alongside Google's Market, on top of proprietary APIs and coming usage-based pricing, sketches a structure where Verizon — not Google — increasingly sets the terms of the Android experience on its network.
The trend: Verizon's Android push is maturing from a single flagship model into a multi-form-factor portfolio layered with carrier-owned services like V CAST Apps and upcoming tiered data pricing.