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Uplinq 2011: HTC's Peter Chou announces HTC Dev program so developers can make the most of new 'golden age'

#uplinq Highlights Onlive streaming game service too

Uplinq 2011: HTC's Peter Chou announces HTC Dev program so developers can make the most of new 'golden age'
Kicking off day two of Uplinq, Qualcomm's developer conference, the keynote from HTC's CEO Peter Chou focused on the company's design philosophy.

"We focus on a holistic user experience, in terms of how people work and live and stay connected," Chou said.

"Which is why we put so much effort into HTC Sense - to make technology work for you."

Pointing to the importance of games, Chou introduced Steve Perlman, CEO of game streaming service Onlive, which has a strategic agreement with HTC.

Saying that he couldn't do a live demo of its streaming gameplay service, because of the amount of internet traffic at the conference, Perlman showed a video of the service running on the HTC Flyer tablet and the wireless Onlive controller to play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

That vision thing

Agreeing with Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacob's opening keynote, Chou got a little visionary.

"The mobile revolution is putting a computer in every pocket," he said.

"Smartphones are bringing a new era, a new civilisation on a global scale, and it's happening very fast."

Big bang

Of course, as the CEO of public company, Chou had to mention some numbers. HTC sold 25 million smartphones in 2010; it's the fifth largest global phone brand.

In Q1 2011, it's already so 9.7 million smartphones, up almost three-fold.

Yet, even as an phone manufacturer, Chou was keen to point out that it was content developers who really push the market.

"We're entering a golden age of mobile development." he said.

"I like to see how people like you use these technologies to realise what is next. We want to drive what is next and that's mobile."

A helping hand

Building on this, Chou announced HTC Dev, a developers program that includes a web portal, SDK, documentation and source code, including 3D tech - something Gameloft has already used in its Spider-Man game.

HTC Dev will also include HTC OpenSense, so developers can integrate HTC's Sense UI within their applications.

The website (ww.htcdev.com) will go live in future weeks.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.