August 3rd, 2009
Facing competition, HTC expects revenue to fall; launch delays, canceled contracts
Taiwanese-based HTC, manufacturer of mobile handsets such as the T-Mobile G1, said it expects its revenue to fall this year due to delays in product launches, a bigger-than-expected fall in contract orders and lower-than-expected sales in China.
The company said Friday that it expects its 2009 revenue to fall by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage, according to the Wall Street Journal, after intially stating that it expected a 10 percent increase.
Last year, revenue increased 29 percent to $152.56 billion Taiwanese dollars, or approx. $4.65 billion USD.
According to analysts, HTC is facing increasing competition thanks to Motorola and Sony Ericsson, who have begun producing phones based on Google’s Android mobile operating system. This was to be expected, since HTC was initially the only manufacturer of phones based on the Android platform.
In terms of shipments, HTC is also the world’s largest maker of phones using Microsoft’s operating system.
HTC said it expects its third-quarter revenue to be between NT$34 billion and NT$36 billion, down from NT$37.86 billion in the third quarter last year. The smart phone maker’s second-quarter revenue rose 10.3% from a year earlier to NT$38.20 billion.
Also notable: the average selling price of HTC’s phones fell to $358 (USD) in the second quarter, from $364 in the first quarter and $381 in the April-June period of last year. That’s indicative of increasing competition and a resulting war on price points.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
