Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) is unlikely to regain its market position with its new devices operating on the Windows Phone 8 (WP8) system, because of the company’s inability to differentiate its hardware, US brokerage Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Friday.
HTC is expected to launch its first devices running on Microsoft Corp’s WP8 on Sept. 19 in New York, as well as a Windows 8 tablet or a 5-inch Android smartphone.
Media suggested that HTC’s first WP8 smartphones may look similar to rival Samsung Electronics Co’s Atvi S, sporting 5-inch LCD displays, dual-core processors, integrated near field communication (NFC) technology and HSDPA/Wi-Fi wireless connectivity.
“In terms of hardware specifications, we think it will be difficult for HTC to regain share quickly aided by Windows 8-based smartphones, given less differentiation, except pricing,” said Jasmine Lu (呂智穎), a Hong Kong-based analyst at Morgan Stanley.
“We think the winning formula has shifted from technology to scale, marketing and branding,” she said in the note.
The opportunity for WP8, Lu said, lies in the US if wireless operators decide to more aggressively embrace WP8 as the third ecosystem, rather than the ones led by Google Inc and Apple Inc, to diversify their risks in view of the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Samsung.
According to research firm Gartner Inc, Windows is expected to capture a 10.4 percent share of global smartphone operating systems next year, up from only 3.9 percent this year.
Furthermore, the share of Google’s Android operating system would slide from the dominant 60.3 percent this year to 57.9 percent next year, while Apple’s iOS would increase from 22 percent to 23.1 percent, Gartner forecast.
Meanwhile, HTC chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) said on Saturday that she has faith her company will win the ongoing patent litigation against rival Apple.
On the sidelines of the APEC summit held in Vladivostok, Russia, Wang said she remains optimistic about HTC’s chances to win the lawsuit against Apple.
The comment came after Bloomberg reported on Friday that Apple may face difficulties in invalidating two HTC patents related to data transmission in wireless devices, citing a judge at the US International Trade Commission.
While Wang declined to comment on the specific case, as she said she was in Russia simply for the APEC summit, the chairwoman said: “I am always upbeat about the odds HTC holds in patent litigation.”
“I always have confidence in HTC,” Wang said.
When talking about HTC’s efforts to penetrate emerging markets like Russia, Wang said the company has grasped nearly 9 percent of the Russian smartphone market, up from 6 percent last year.
With great potential for growth in Russia, HTC is determined to raise its investments there, especially as the giant country is now a member of the World Trade Organization, she said.
Shares in HTC gained 3.15 percent on Friday to close at NT$262 in Taipei trading.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of US Affordable Care Act enrollees expired on Jan.1, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year. Democrats forced a 43-day US government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their political aspirations this year. US President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash. In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A US House of Representatives vote
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
RSS