HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s largest maker of smartphones using Microsoft Corp and Google Inc operating systems, declared yesterday that next year would be its “Asian Year” as the company is gearing up to boost its presence in the region.
“This year, our Asian sales will grow 200 percent [from last year,]” HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明) told its largest-ever product launch in Asia, to which regional media and telecoms partners were invited attend.
Chou said the Asian market has great growth potential, and Asian consumers are receptive toward its brand. The CEO brushed off the possibility that HTC may launch its own application store.
“There is not much value for us to launch an app store,” Chou said.
This is because the market would be too fragmented considering that HTC’s partners, such as Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, already have app stores in the market, he said.
On market speculation that HTC will launch an Android-based tablet PC in the first quarter, the CEO said “[the] tablet is a good device. It has a good positioning and a niche market.”
He refused to divulge information that refers to its future product pipeline.
HTC also unveiled the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z, both running on Android. Both will be available in Asia next month, with sales of each of the models expected to hit 1 million by end of the year, Chou said.
Executives from HTC’s telecoms partners that attended the event included Taiwan’s three major telecoms operators, as well Maxis BHD from Malaysia, M1 Ltd in Singapore, Hong Kong CSL Ltd (香港移動通訊) and Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company (MobiFone).
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