HTC Shifting Focus to Lower End Smartphones in Effort to Remain Relevant and Curb Profit Decline
You can't help but feel a little bit sorry for HTC. Here is a company that helped pioneer Android in the smartphone space, first with the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream), the world's first commercially developed Android phone, and then by launching a bevy of devices built around Google's open source platform. It's a strategy that worked well for the company in the beginning as it celebrated record revenue and profits each quarter, but then came the competition.
These days it's Samsung that practically owns the Android market, while Apple serves the significant iOS camp with its iPhone range. Suddenly, HTC finds itself struggling to remain relevant. On the bright side, the company is still making a profit, however its latest financial report revealed that profits had declined a whopping 83 percent year-over-year. Ouch.
One thing HTC has done in the past year is to simplify its lineup so that it can concentrate on a few really good devices (like the HTC One) rather than continue to saturate the market with a bunch of different phones. Going forward, HTC now plans to introduce lower end smartphones in hopes of recapturing some of the market share it's lost to the competition.
"We suffered a little bit in this mid-tier market share from the end of last year so far, in terms of competition," HTC chief Peter Chou said in a conference call this week. "However, with this new range of mid-tier products we will address those challenges."
Chou added that the market is a "little bit confused right now" due to too many products coming out. With that in mind, he's planning to launch a new range of devices "to try and stay competitive."
These days it's Samsung that practically owns the Android market, while Apple serves the significant iOS camp with its iPhone range. Suddenly, HTC finds itself struggling to remain relevant. On the bright side, the company is still making a profit, however its latest financial report revealed that profits had declined a whopping 83 percent year-over-year. Ouch.
One thing HTC has done in the past year is to simplify its lineup so that it can concentrate on a few really good devices (like the HTC One) rather than continue to saturate the market with a bunch of different phones. Going forward, HTC now plans to introduce lower end smartphones in hopes of recapturing some of the market share it's lost to the competition.
"We suffered a little bit in this mid-tier market share from the end of last year so far, in terms of competition," HTC chief Peter Chou said in a conference call this week. "However, with this new range of mid-tier products we will address those challenges."
Chou added that the market is a "little bit confused right now" due to too many products coming out. With that in mind, he's planning to launch a new range of devices "to try and stay competitive."
