Beats smartphone coming, to be built by HTC and powered by Android?

Many people never found out that the T-Mobile G1 handset they used all those years ago was actually manufactured by HTC. The latter could be going back to its roots as a contract manufacturer if a new report pans out. According to a trusted source for BGR, HTCwill be the manufacturer of a Beats smartphone that will be powered by Android. The Taiwan based company will also develop a unique Beats UI that will run over the OS. Despite all this, the Beats smartphone will not have any HTC branding on it at all.

HTC recently gave up majority ownership of Beats after which speculation rose that HTC would stop offering Beats Audio technology on future handsets. HTC denied that the rumor was true and said that it was committed to producing its phones with Beats Audio technology on board. Besides trying to compete with the Apple iPhone, Beats is also said to be developing an iTunes competitor that for now has the name "Daisy," that will offer a subscription based streaming music service.

The idea is to combine a Beats smartphone with a Beats television and "Daisy" to offer a similar experience to what Apple offers with Apple TV, its mobile devices and iTunes. And unlike the partnership wih HTC, Beats will be in total control of product design and pricing. So far, there is no word on when we might see the launch of the Beats smartphone, television or the "Daisy" music service.

source: BGR