Interesting article about an Android phone that was supposed to launch in January, but didn't launch after a discussion with Google.

"We were upset that we couldn't launch it," Ruslan said. "If you guys want something to think about with regards to Android, why is there an open piece of software out there that any of the phone companies could implement onto their phone within one minute based on the engineering teams they have, but somehow only one company has got Android phones on the market at the moment while others have delayed. That's just something to think about."

blogs.smh.com.au/gadgetsontheg ...

Back then in january I was checking the their blog every day, it looked like a perfect android philosophy phone... I wonder what happened... this was their official blogpost kogan.com.au/blog/2009/jan/16/ ...

From the link provided by Ionut:
> Did Google cut a secret deal with HTC? Did HTC threaten to
> walk away from Android if it didn't get first dibs?

It wasn't a secret deal. HTC was in on Android right from the beginning, from before December 2005. Google later contracted with HTC to produce the flagship first product. HTC pumped in a lot of money and design work, and in return there was a deal for some kind of exclusivity period. Presumably one of the "non-open" bits (perhaps a patent license) isn't available to other manufacturers until the exclusivity runs out.

I read about the exclusivity in an article at Slashdot during late 2007 or more likely early 2008, but I've searched and can't find it now. So I don't expect you to treat this comment as anything more than an unsubstantiated recollection.