HTC spreading false information and more? Yes.

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

We normally don't want to weigh too heavily on rumors, let alone rumors about counter-espionage/intelligence that companies take in order to protect their upcoming releases.

But this time we have a little something to add to the story that we can now go public with.

Evidently, Eldar Murtazin from Mobile Review, has told Engadget Mobile that HTC has made "controled [sic] leak of some devices" and has been putting out false information to throw people off their trail. That article focuses on Android, tablets and the sort coming from HTC.

While the above applies to hardware, HTC is also engaging in this behavior in software too. How so?

Remember that T-Mobile HD2 ROM leak a few weeks ago that we broke here at WMExperts? That was v2.01.  We have it on good word that it really ticked off HTC as they considered that ROM pretty secure--it was limited access only.

To prevent that from happening in the future, they purposefully leaked another ROM, v2.02, the famous "landscape in Manila" version. They were trying to out the leaker and they knew no one could resist leaking that upgrade, even if it wasn't complete yet.  

We were told, from one of our most trusted sources, that

...its a trap, they have a certain Serial and IMEI of the device that it was suppose to be for...

Yup.  According to our source, Manila 2.5 with landscape was a 'Canary trap' by HTC (thanks BigDiesel07 for the reference).

HTC is getting aggressive in trying to prevent further leaks, especially ones that are related to high profile devices.  Whether they will be successful or not remains to be seen, but they are actively trying to find where these leaks are coming from within the company and they will use subterfuge to do it.  

So if we see a reduction in the future of "new builds", you can point to that moment as the turning point. Then again, you sure can't fault HTC for wanting to cut down on the leaks and protect their property.  Just part of the biz.

[Thanks anonymous]

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

14 Comments
  • Ouuch, But I suppose it makes sense, who doesn't wanna protect their IP and new tech from getting out early or being leaked and thus giving free info to your competition?
  • Exactly. As HTC continues to skyrocket in growth, it will have to take more draconian methods to protect its trade secrets. Can't blame them really.
  • And yet, MSFT's WM7 stuff is still rather elusive. Microsoft... yout know.. the swiss cheese of corporate "IP Safes".
  • Microsoft has gotten very vigilant at controlling what the public knows about its products.. They are starting to let their products talk for themselves instead of over-hyping a product.. It sounds like HTC is embracing the classic "Canary Trap" scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_trap
  • Ooo...cool term! May have to add that to the article!
  • I really like that actually was added.
  • Damn. Maybe HTC should take it as a sign to continue supporting their older devices? I'm sure the TOuch Pro 2 will never see an upgrade to Manila and probably no official 6.5.3
  • Eldar has been proven wrong more often than we've seen misinformation from/about HTC. He always claims things are FACT when he makes assumptions based on theory. He should be writing for MSMOBILES. WM7 WILL NOT SUPPORT WM6.X apps!!!!! Idiot was wrong on that one too.
  • from the actual thread: Ike Turner Posted Jan 23rd 2010 8:26AMHIGHEST RANKED Eldar: " Hmmm Google Phone is a kind of fake finaly. Just finish conversation with some guy from Google, story looks in other way then it was discuss
    Google employees are testing some features of upcoming version of Android 2.1 on HTC Passion which was called Google Phone (=Android phone)
    Some rival company used misunderstanding to lauch rumour about Gphone and new business model from Google (which arent true).
    "
    Eldar = FOS
  • Nexus One is in fact the HTC Passion. But it got rebranded by Google. If you look at the internal Firmware from HTC its called HTC Passion.
  • If only HTC would release an updated HD2 with Android 2.1 on Verizon we can stop playing these games. I guess the HD and Touch Pro 2 would be okay, but the processor would probably need to updated to at least the Snapdragon 1GHz.
  • I kinda love / hate HTC I hate their slogan "quietly brilliant" i dono.. it just sounds dumb. They are not that brilliant. It took them up until 5 months ago to figure out that most people want headphone jacks on their phones. Most of their phones are cheap pieces of crap with poor design. There are really only a few good phones they made, outside of that they are just an over hyped company. Their strength was WM, and now its Android. Nokia has always made devices of much greater quality, but their os was not quite as good.
  • Not sure what phones you are talking about, but the past 4 I've had from HTC, being the Kaiser, Touch Pro, Touch Pro 2, and the Ozone are all extremely well built and designed.
  • would prefer the LG Apollo if its really with the qualcomm 1.3Ghz Snapdragon CPU over the HTC Obsession with its 1Ghz Snapdragon.. mhh but both seem to be nice wm7 smartphones, for sure.