HTC hasn't been doing so well [3] in the battle against rival Android makers and Apple's iPhone, and recently in October it posted a record drop [4] in quarterly profits--slipping down 48% as its smartphone market share sank from 10.7% in the second quarter 2011 to 5.8% for the same period in 2012. Now the firm is said to be trying [5] a radically different strategy, competing in the Apple-dominated tablet market. It's also not going the usual Android route, adopting Microsoft's low-end Windows RT tablet operating system instead.

That would place HTC in competition with MS's own Surface tablets [6] and other big names like Sony. To add some uniqueness HTC is going to release a 12-inch tablet that's bigger than most in the market, and the first Windows RT-powered 7-inch tablet that competes against Google's Nexus 7 [7] and Apple's iPad Mini [8].

[Image: Flickr user John.Karakatsanis [9]]