HTC to ship iPhone-, Palm-killing Android phone?

Senior officials from Australian carrier Telstra claims on Monday that HTC is developing a smartphone that would trump devices from Apple and Palm. The executives, who observed some of the competition at CES this past week, say HTC has a touchscreen device in the works which is "better and more functional" than either the iPhone or the just-unveiled Pre and should have both a larger display than existing HTC phones as well as custom software written by the phone maker itself; the inaugural T-Mobile G1 currently uses only Google's stock software.

While primarily dismissive of the iPhone, the Telstra staff notes that Palm's phone has yet to reach the market and so has yet to really compete. The unnamed HTC device isn't expected to ship until the spring, or roughly the same time as the Pre reaches Sprint.

Whether or not the Telstra statements are accurate is unknown. Both the Touch HD and MAX 4G have 3.8-inch, 800x480 touchscreens and are considered large among smartphones; however, the reference may instead be to HTC's more widespread devices, such as the 2.8-inch Touch Diamond and Touch Pro.

The Taiwan-area company is best-known for its Windows Mobile phones but has already said it expects its second phone to ship in April.