Taiwan’s HTC today enhanced its status as the industry’s leading supplier of devices running the Android operating system (OS) by unveiling its Tattoo phone. Although pricing details have not yet been confirmed, HTC said it is targeting “the masses” and the device will be available in Europe first at the beginning of October. Further market launches will follow. The Tattoo is the second device from HTC featuring its new Sense user interface, first seen on the HTC Hero and offering the option of several customisable homescreens, along with live feeds of applications such as Twitter and Facebook, plus email and weather at a glance.

The Tattoo follows previous Android-powered device launches from HTC, including the Dream, Magic and Hero. HTC launched the world’s first Android device last year when T-Mobile launched the Dream (branded as the G1). Samsung and Huawei are the only other vendors to have commercially launched Android phones to date, whilst Motorola is expected to unveil its plans later this week. The hugely-hyped Google-backed OS has a long way to go though before it can take market share from rivals. According to Gartner, Symbian held a 51 percent share of the smartphone OS market in 2Q09, while RIM and Apple grew their shares year-on-year. Android’s share was just under 2 percent of the market.