Taiwanese smartphone marker HTC Corp (宏達電) formally launched branded products in China late last month, hoping to duplicate its branding success in other markets.
Before the launch, HTC had marketed its products in China under the Dopod brand after acquiring Dopod International Corp (多普達) in 2007, but felt the time had come to promote its own brand.
“We are proud to introduce the HTC brand in China and look forward to bringing a fresh customer-centric smartphone experience to consumers in China,” HTC chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) said.
Analysts caution, however, that China’s market is not likely to become a major contributor to HTC’s revenues anytime soon.
“While we believe China is an important smartphone market, given the sizeable subscriber base, it may not emerge as a key revenue driver for HTC in the next one to two years,” Jeff Pu (蒲得宇), an analyst with Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧) said, in a statement on July 30.
Luke Lin (林俊吉), an analyst with Taipei-based research firm DigiTimes, agreed with Pu and said in a recent e-mail message that so far, revenues from China account for only a very small part of HTC’s total revenues.
From the second half of this year, however, Lin believes Chinese telecoms operators will significantly increase their subsidization and procurement of smartphones, which could begin to have an impact on HTC, the world’s eighth- largest mobile phone maker.
China was the world’s second- largest smartphone market for the sixth consecutive quarter in the second quarter of this year. During that period, 6.9 million smartphones, representing 11 percent of the worldwide total, were sold in China, second only to the US, where 14.7 million units, or 23 percent of global shipments, were sold, research firm Canalys said on Aug. 2.
At an investor conference on July 29, HTC chief financial officer Cheng Hui-ming (鄭慧明) acknowledged that sales in China will not contribute much to total revenues in the third quarter of this year, but said it would be a key future market.
Dopod had only a 1.6 percent share of China’s smartphone market in the first quarter of this year, ranking eighth, falling far behind Apple, which was in sixth place with a 5.4 percent share, according to recent figures from Chinese marketing agency Analysys International.
Nokia is the top smartphone seller in China with a 29.3 percent share, the figures showed.
HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明), vowed late last month that HTC would become one of China’s top three smartphone brands in the next two or three years.
Kelly Hsieh (謝雨珊) of Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所) recently said that she is optimistic HTC will reach its goal based on similar patterns in the European and North American markets, where it also took two to three years to emerge as a major brand.
Chou recently told reporters that 8 percent of smartphone users in China are aware of HTC, even though HTC has never sold its products there under its own brand.
Chou explained that because many Chinese consumers have owned HTC models through parallel imports — authentic goods imported into a country without the authorization of the brand — the HTC brand already has a good reputation in China.
While some analysts are optimistic about HTC’s prospects in China, daunting challenges still loom, including competition from strong foreign competitors, according to Lin, who said HTC could not ignore Chinese rivals.
Hsieh felt that an increase in cheap knock-offs in China’s market could also present a major hurdle.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
RSS