HTC Maple to be Launched by April

The internet community – those geeks constantly waiting for the next big thing – is abuzz with HTC’s announcement of its new HTC Maple. The Maple is supposed to be released in the US by next month to coincide with the International CTIA Wireless 2009 exhibition slated to start on April 1.

The HTC Maple appears to have a trackball like BlackBerry devices, larger and better arranged front QWERTY keyboard, non-touch screen (Windows Mobile Standard), Inner Circle functionality (groups business or personal contacts and status), and more. 2008 was the year of the touch interface and it is personally quite refreshing to see HTC working on a WM Standard device. These devices are more responsive, more stable, and work better as a mobile phone while still providing you with plenty of power for getting things done.

Some people said the handset is a refresh of the T-Mobile Dash.

The Dash handset looks like an early BlackBerry, with a large QWERTY keypad on the face. The HTC Maple will upgrade the software to use the TouchFLO 3D touchscreen navigation software HTC developed to run on Windows Mobile handsets. The device will continue to operate on Windows Mobile software.