Skyrocketing HTC Falls Back to Earth, Shrugs Off Revenue Drop

Like that scene in Step Brothers, HTC has been earning and burning, snapping necks and cashing checks as if it was pitching to be the main attraction at the Catalina Wine Mixer. It's been a stellar year for HTC and Android both, with each one feeding on the success of the other. But just like the law of gravity, what goes up must come down, apparently even skyrocketing revenues.

HTC today announced that unaudited consolidated revenues for November 2011 totaled around 31 billion Taiwanese dollars, or about $1.03 billion American greenbacks, representing a year-over-year decline of 19.6 percent. That's a significant drop, and in stark contrast to the nearly 79 percent year-over-year growth HTC posted from January through November.


So what gives? HTC didn't say, choosing instead to report the numbers in a matter-of-fact manner and leave it at that. The company did, however, previously predict that it's fast ride of record breaking quarters would be coming to an end, we just didn't expect it to happen so abruptly. Perhaps the iPhone 4S launch is partially to blame.

Working in HTC's favor, however, is the holiday shopping season, as well new builds of Android on the horizon. And on a global scale, it certainly doesn't hurt HTC's case that Apple has managed to win injunctions against Samsung in certain territories, though not in the U.S.
Tags:  Android, smartphone, HTC