China has developed a new operating system for smartphones, PCs and other devices, descrobed as a more secure alternative to rival OSes such as Android and Windows. The China Operating System (COS) was developed by Shanghai Liantong Network Communications Technology and the government-linked Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has been designed for personal computers, smart handhelds, set-top boxes, smart appliances and other devices, according to a statement on the company's website. COS has a user-friendly interface and is able to run many types of applications including HTML5 as well Java, using virtual machines. COS also and lacks the security weaknesses of existing OSes, according to the developers.

China's previous attempts at making a homegrown OS, however, have not made headway. All the top smartphone makers in China rely on developing Android-based phones. At the same time, Windows remains the dominant OS on PCs used in the nation.

Liantong said on its website it will have to win the support of handset makers such as Huawei Technologies, Lenovo and others, along with China's mobile carriers, to develop an ecosystem around its OS.

An official promotional video released on Chinese video-sharing site Youku.com showed the COS running on various mobile devices, including the Apple iPhone 4S, the HTC Butterfly, HTC One, HTC One Max phones and the HTC Flyer tablet.

However, HTC, whose devices run on the Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, declined to confirm the products or any future plans to launch COS-based devices.

Last August, the Wall Street Journal reported that HTC was developing a new mobile operating system specifically targeting China.