HTC is highly interested in increasing its patent portfolio, chairman Cher Wang told the Wall Street Journal. The company believes it can adequately defend itself against patent-related litigation, but admits that owning more intellectual property would be helpful. “There’s so many innovations out there in Silicon Valley and different places, and that’s the exuberance of the mobile experience, I would love to buy many more small companies,” she said. Though she admitted that “sometimes we get in and the price goes really high,” forcing the company out of some patent auctions. Patent-related litigation is rife in the smartphone industry, with nearly all the players involved in one degree or another. As recently as July, HTC made a patent-protection purchase when it bought S3 for $300 million. Wang also indicated that HTC is taking a wait-and-see approach with respect to creating its own operating system to better compete with Samsung, Apple, and Motorola. “We have a very strong team in OS…and I think that it’s not difficult for us to have our own OS, but the most important thing is how do you cooperate with the partners,” she said to the Journal. HTC uses Google’s Android platform, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, and Qualcomm’s BREW MP in its hardware designs.
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