Nov. 5, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Taiwan-based HTC Corp, the world's first maker of handsets running Google Inc's Android system, expects its fourth-quarter net profit and revenue to grow from the previous quarter due to strong demand, HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou said yesterday, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

HTC, the owner of the world's fourth-largest smartphone brand, expects that its handset shipments will show a double-digit increase this year from 2008 due to the growing popularity of its smartphones, Chou said in July.

China Mobile Ltd<0941><CHL>, the country's largest telecom operator, said it would team up with Taiwan's HTC Corp to develop an OPhone to run the Open Mobile System platform and compete with Apple Inc's iPhone, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in August, China Knowledge reported earlier.

HTC's second-quarter net profit declined 2% from a year earlier to NT$6.49 billion. Revenue rose 10.34% year on year to NT$38.2 billion.