Speaking today at a limited press event in Seattle, HTC creative director Claude Zellweger said that HTC is moving away from smartphones with QWERTY keyboards.
"As a company, the QWERTY keyboard we're moving away from in general."
Zellweger then went on to say that the future of QWERTY on smartphones will likely revolve from newer haptic technologies that are being worked into software based, on-screen keyboards. He also feels that hardware-based keyboards, while still somewhat in demand, would not allow HTC to move forward the designs of its smartphones.
"We feel that putting too much effort into that [QWERTY] would take away from our devices."
This is likely to upset a hardcore base of QWERTY keyboard lovers, but when consumers are demanding thinner and lighter phones with ever larger displays, it is entirely understandable.
