Wed 7th of July, filed under Mobile Marketing
Smartphone manufacturer HTC is experiencing its highest quarterly profit in three years according to new figures released by the company. The Apple rival, and frequent Google collaborator has reported a sales increase of 41 per cent for the second quarter of 2010.
The spike in sales demonstrated in the first six months of this year marks HTC’s largest profit since late 2007. The company revealed revenues of £1.4 billion in 2009, while this year's revenues have increased to £2 billion; figures which have surpassed analyst forecasts and are thought to result from the company’s recent release of several high-end smartphones.
’Good execution of brand strategy’
The number of handset shipments from HTC reflects its improving sales, increasing by eight million in just one year with an expected 20 million units in 2010 to 2009’s 12 million. "HTC’s second quarter earnings result is better than its original second quarter guidance," explained a statement released by the company.
"Both June and second quarter revenue continuously hit record highs, showing good execution of brand strategy and grow scale strategy."
Similarly, a Yuanta Securities analyst has admitted HTC’s profits had exceeded initial estimates and that the company’s success is likely due to their new smartphones. "We expect the strong momentum to continue in the second half of the year as HTC will launch another round of new smartphone models in the third quarter," said Bonnie Chang.
The iPhone Killer
While HTC originally began designing phones for individual mobile networks, it is speculated that its partnership with Google - creating phones running on the Android operating system, the notorious rival to Apple’s iOS - is one of the main reasons for its recent success. The two companies teamed up last year to develop the Nexus One, a smartphone dubbed ‘the iPhone killer’ by experts at the time.
HTC’s achievements in the smartphone market look set only to enhance its rivalry with Apple, especially as its profit spike has occurred in the same month as, and despite, the release of Apple’s new iPhone 4.
It is also not the first time HTC and Apple have been placed in direct competition; both companies have recently attempted to sue each other over patent disputes. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs of the dispute.
"We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
HTC Vice President Jason Mackenzie retorted by saying: "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones."
Posted by Carli Harris
