In an interview with Forbes, HTC’s Drew Bamford made some comments on their prized HTC Sense. He mentioned that they will still be around on Windows Phone 7 and on Android 3.0 (GingerBread).
By now, we should already know that Microsoft has imposed strict controls on the hardware and software of Windows Phone 7 and according to PocketNow, Android 3.0 will also follow similar strict requirements. That means HTC, who has develop HTC Sense, will meet with great impact on these decision. Nevertheless, in the interview, he mentioned something on Windows Phone 7 for HTC:
“Microsoft has taken firmer control of the core experience [in Windows Phone 7], but we can still innovate,” Drew Bamford, head of HTC’s user experience design team, told Forbes. According to him, the forthcoming version of Sense would be quite different from the solution present on the company’s current Windows Phone 6.5-based devices. The existing Sense was designed to integrate with most of the platform’s core apps. “We won’t be able to replace as much of the core Windows Phone experience, but we will augment it,” Bamford says.
I remembered HTC previously started with program on HTC Touch that you can run it to make Windows Mobile interesting. I think they may have to do it again and explore future customization. Anyway, this may be the way in the future for handset manufacturers to differentiate amongst one another.