HTC’s Mango phones, Titan and Radar, out next month

HTC launched two smartphones on Thursday running Microsoft's latest update of its mobile operating system, called Mango, as Microsoft struggles to gain market share from Apple and Android smartphones.

HTC said the two devices, the Radar and the higher-specification Titan, will be available next month first in Europe and Asia. An HTC official said that the Titan will cost ¬599 (US$855) and the Radar will cost ¬399 without subsidies.

HTC is the second company to launch devices running Windows Mango, known as Windows Phone 7.5, after Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications announced in July the IS12T, which will only be available in Japan.

Microsoft faces an uphill battle in the rapidly changing smartphone market, highlighted by Google's acquisition last month of Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion. Microsoft held just 2.7 percent of the smartphone OS market for the first quarter of this year, according to analyst firm IDC, losing ground from a year before despite a complete rework of its mobile operating system. Read more...