HTC is planning to make BlinkFeed, its custom news-reader app installed on the One and other HTC smartphones, available for other Android devices in the near future, even those not made by HTC. The news was found by Android Central in a press release for the new BlinkFeed features debuting on the HTC One that was announced yesterday. HTC also tells The Verge that its Zoe camera app will be made available for non-HTC devices later this year.

HTC followed Motorola's lead by putting its own apps for the latest version of its Sense software in the Google Play Store, but it was implied that they would only be available for HTC devices. Making BlinkFeed and Zoe, two of HTC's signature pieces of software, available for other, non-HTC smartphones is a bold move, but it could help with brand awareness and let people "try out" HTC's software before buying a phone. Other HTC apps that are hardware dependent, such as Gallery and TV, are not expected to be made available for non-HTC devices.

The biggest challenge at this point for HTC is to get people to actually go in to stores and buy its phones, and letting them get a taste of its software is one way to accomplish that.