HTC to launch touchscreen iPhone, Palm Pre competitor

HTC, manufacturer of the T-Mobile G1 smartphone, is set to launch a brand new phone touchscreen phone targeting the Apple iPhone and Palm's new Pre, according to a senior executive of Telstra via an exclusive report by Smarthouse.

According to the report, the new smartphone has been developed using a combination of the Google Android operating system and Linux-based software written by HTC itself.

The screen will likely be bigger than any of HTC's current offerings.

The Telestra executives also reportedly called the device "better and more functional" than the just-announced Palm Pre, which uses Palm's new webOS platform:

"We have seen both and we believe that the new HTC phone will be a real competitor to the iPhone and the Pre which at this stage looks nice but is still not delivered to market," Smarthouse reports the unnamed executives saying.

The organizers of the Consumer Electronics Show awarded Palm the best product award in the mobile phone and smartphone category as well as "Best in Show."

HTC's new phone is expected in the second quarter of 2009.

Will this be the rumored G2? It's unclear. but with a serious lack of Android presence at this year's CES, expect more news of Android implementation as the year progresses.