HTC Open Sources Sense UI, Dev Program Later This Summer

HTC CEO Peter Chou has announced during the Qualcomm-backed Uplinq conference that the manufacturer’s Sense 3.0 

user interface, which has been the linchpin for the majority of its Android smart device lineup will be open sourced with a new developer program launching this summer.

The new program, known as HTCdev will allow interested developers to develop applications and new widgets for Sense UI along with allowing for more extensive modification with newly opened APIs for the forthcoming stylus and 3.0 SDK. Previously, HTC has restricted Sense for its own devices under the Apache license and did not allow for third-party distribution or modification. The move to open source Sense also follows another more developer friendly move by the company as it previously announced earlier this month that it would release all new devices going forward with unlocked bootloaders, embracing the Android hacking community.

With the move to open source the Sense UI, it remains to be seen if the Android mod community will take up the opportunity to modify the user interface for its own Android builds, assuming the HTCdev program will allow for such distribution, as previous attempts to bundle Sense in modified Android builds have been halted by HTC prior to today’s announcement.