HTC To Launch China’s First Official Windows Phone

The HTC Triumph will be the first official Windows Phone to land in China, beating Nokia to the potentially very lucrative market.

Triumph, supposedly a renamed version of the HTC Titan, became available for pre-order at the opening of HTC’s first flagship store in Beijing Blue Harbour, according to Weibo Tech reporter Zāng Zhì Yuān, cited by Engadget.

Titan Tango’ed

Based on the phone’s hefty price – a contract-free Triumph will sell for 4,399 yuan (£440) – and its Titan-based specs, including a 1.5GHz processor, 16GB of internal memory and a 4.7 inch 720p display, HTC’s entry into the Chinese WP market will be top-end.

The handset will run Windows Phone 7.5 Tango, which was largely expected to be the go-to operating system for lower-end devices, and will replace Facebook and Twitter integration with Chinese equivalents (Sina Weibo, Tencent Weixin and SkyDrive).

HTC’s reveal comes less than a week after its One Series showcase at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where they hinted at having readied the first Chinese Windows Phone handset. Though there is no definitive release date, the move does put pressure on Nokia, Lenovo, LG and ZTE, who are all expected to announce their own Chinese Windows Phone handsets soon.

The Lumia 610, announced at MWC 2012, represents Nokia’s first foray into lower-end Windows Phone handsets, and was anticipated to be the first such smartphone in China ahead of HTC’s offering.

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