Report: HTC barred from developing Win 8 tablets

HTC is reportedly excluded from developing Windows 8 tablets meant for initial market entry later this year as Microsoft seeks to partner vendors which have greater experience and sales volume in tablet devices, according to Bloomberg.

The news wire reported on Thursday that the Taiwanese handset maker was not allowed to participate in the first round of tablet development because it does not sell enough such devices and lack the experience in building them, according to unnamed sources. HTC's tablets include the HTC Flyer, HTC Jetstream and HTC EVO View 4G, according to its Web site.

When contacted, a Microsoft spokesperson said: "HTC is a strong partner to Microsoft today, and into the future." HTC has yet to respond.

At this week's Computex trade conference held in Taipei, manufacturers including Asus, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba have announced Windows 8 and ARM-based Windows RT tablets, but HTC was missing from the list.

ZDNet Asia's sister site ZDNet reported on Thursday that the phonemakers' latest financial report said it will deliver second quarter revenues of NT$91 billion (US$3.0 billion), which is short of the NT$103.6 billion (US$3.5 billion) analysts had been forecasting. The report cited the ongoing patent battle with Apple, which prevented its devices from being sold in the United States, as a reason for the lower-than-expected sales.