Apparently Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) has placed an ODM order for Windows-based phones with Taiwanese handset maker HTC, according to a report in the Chinese-language Taiwan financial paper Commercial Times (via English-language The Unwired). If it’s true, the news would be big on two levels: it would be Sony Ericsson’s first major departure from the Symbian platform it has championed and invested in; and it would apparently be HTC’s first deal with a tier-one manufacturer. The report, which did not cite its sources, said that SE would market the phones in the second half of 2008; and that the volume of phones shipped is expected to exceed one million units, accounting for between ten and twenty percent of HTC’s total shipments projection for 2008.