The fall announcement of HTC's Windows Phone 8X was a bold statement about the future of Windows Phone development — HTC had seemingly supplanted Nokia as Microsoft's hardware partner of choice, despite the fact that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed up at Nokia's Lumia 920 reveal just a few weeks earlier. While Nokia had appeared to be Microsoft's closest Windows Phone ally, HTC quickly showed that it wasn't going to push out the same uninspired devices that made up its Windows Phone 7 portfolio. The Windows Phone 8X moniker was also a strong statement that positioned HTC's new phone as the consensus best option.

Now, it looks like HTC is continuing to strengthen its position with Microsoft: Bloomberg is reporting that HTC CEO Peter Chou has been meeting with Steve Ballmer in an effort to help the company realize its vision of a large-screen Windows Phone device that can compete with device like Samsung's Galaxy Note series. This meeting is apparently the latest in ongoing discussions between the two companies — Chou and Ballmer have been meeting several times a year, with frequent email and phone conversations also taking place as the two companies work to strengthen their partnership.

HTC had hoped to launch a Windows Phone device at 4.7 inches or higher, but recently scrapped the plans due to Windows Phone 8's maximum resolution size of 1280 x 768. While large devices like the Galaxy Note II still have excellent screens using that resolution, a bigger Windows Phone wouldn't be quite the standout next to the outstanding 1080p screen HTC used in the Droid DNA. Microsoft needs an inspired hardware partner like HTC (not to mention Nokia), but HTC also could use a Windows Phone hit — the company been in a year-long slump despite releasing some of its best Android hardware to date in 2012.