HTC shot back at Apple on Tuesday, introducing the Touch mobile handset that boasts many of the innovative features of the iPhone in a similar package.

The Taiwanese phone maker, which typically sells its phones directly to carriers that are then branded as that company's own phones, is betting highly on the product. It believes the Touch could contribute significantly to the company's financial performance.

The HTC Touch is based on the Windows Mobile 6 operating system and sports a 2.8-inch color LCD screen. It includes a two-megapixel digital camera, built in Wi-Fi and EDGE data, and a microSD slot. Altogether, the phone measures about 14 millimeters thick.

First to get the device will be European carrier Orange, which is expected to begin offering the phone later in the week. The rest of Europe and Asia will follow later in the month, with a North and Latin American version coming later in the year.

While the Touch phone will carry the HTC name in Europe, T-Mobile will launch it under its own brand. Company representatives also say that in the future more phones will carry T-Mobile's own name in order to build brand awareness.

Central to the phone's operation is the inclusion of HTC's new "TouchFLO" technology, which the company has been developing for the past two years. Essentially, the phone's UI would act similar to what has been shown of the iPhone.

"This was a smart move for HTC, provide a really cool, local optimized, touch screen device when the iPhone launches in all the markets where you won't be able to get one immediately," JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg said.