HTC wins 2011 global best device manufacturer award…showcase phones with FB button

Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp. was named Thursday as "Device Manufacturer of the Year" by GSM Association (GSMA), which is a top award in the global mobile communications industry.

HTC beat out two other finalists, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., to take the top honor in the device manufacturer category at the 2011 Global Mobile Awards ceremony in Barcelona, Spain.

"HTC has built its market presence from nowhere, with fresh branding and marketing and a strong portfolio of devices across many platforms,” the GSMA judges said on the awards website. "In particular, it has proven an exceptionally popular and enduring phone manufacturer."

The judges also said that the HTC Desire smartphone "set the bar for Android phones across much of the world in 2010.”

This is the second straight year that HTC has picked up a major GSMA award. Last year, its Hero model was named "Best Mobile Phone."

HTC CEO Peter Chou said he appreciates the efforts by the company's employees to create intuitive and deeply personal smartphone experiences. The award this year is a measure of their passion and dedication, he said.

Apple's iPhone 4 won the "Best Mobile Device" award this year because of its "great screen, sharp design, fantastic materials, and phenomenal ecosystem for app developers,” according to the GSMA website.

The GSMA Awards are determined by a committee that comprises industry analysts and consultants, mobile operators, educators and other industry leaders. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators.

Officially unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona, the HTC Salsa was introduced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It is a very similar handset to the HTC ChaCha, except the Salsa lacks a physical keyboard and has a much larger display.

The HTC Salsa's Facebook button works contextually and lights up whenever the user can share multimedia content or status updates through the social networking service. For example, after a photo is taken with the HTC Salsa's camera, you simply push the Facebook button to automatically upload the image. Users can also press the button once to automatically check in through the Facebook Places feature.