HTC makes a deal with China Mobile, agrees to make TD-SCDMA smartphones

Laws in China are a funny thing because no one knows which one the country will, or will not, follow. With regards to patents, the thought of having a Chinese handset manufacture pay royalties on UMTS/HSPA technology to a foreign country is down right terrifying, so the nation developed their own standard called TD-SCDMA. China’s 3G only works in China, and this leaves foreign handset makers who want to tap a market of a billion plus people in a bind. Should they bother devoting resources to this funky radio technology, or just keep on pumping as many GSM/UMTS/HSPA handsets into the market and hope Europe, America and the rest of Asia are enough to keep the company afloat? Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has already said they’re going to make a TD-SCDMA Symbian powered device available this year, and now HTC has joined the fray as well by promising to eventually make a TD-SCDMA smartphone, and even TD-LTE devices as well.