HTC Corp (宏達電) introduced its entry-level phone — the Explorer — in Taiwan yesterday in a bid to attract users to make the switch from feature phones to smartphones.
With a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a 3-megapixel camera, the Explorer is aimed at first-time smartphone users and offers easy access to a variety of Web sites, according to the world’s No. 4 smartphone brand.
The Explorer will go on sale on Nov. 16 through Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecoms operator, with a price tag of NT$7,900.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
While HTC’s mid-range and high-end models have found a following, “we’ve found that some young and potential first-time smartphone users are looking for cheaper models that are easy to use,” HTC’s North Asia-Pacific region president Jack Tong (董俊良) said at the product launch.
Chen Chang-rong (陳長榮), vice president of Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile business group, said that feature-phone users account for about 80 percent, or about 16 million, of the total number of mobile phone users in the country.
Among these feature-phone users, between 3 million and 4 million are planning to buy a smartphone, Chen said, indicating room for growth in Taiwan’s smartphone market.
On Oct. 31, HTC said it had no plans to launch smartphones priced below US$100 because the company does not want to make low-quality products.
Instead, it would focus on phones priced between US$200 and US$250 to tap into the mass consumer market, the company said.
In related news, Chunghwa Telecom is set to procure as many as 50,000 tablet computers and smartphones from HTC next year, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday.
The figure would account for about 25 percent of the telecoms company’s planned purchase of 2 million smartphones and PC devices next year, it said.
Chunghwa and HTC forged a strategic partnership in February, when they announced plans to expand collaboration in four areas: customized value-added mobile content, mobile broadband, procurement of end devices and integration of marketing resources.
Additional reporting by Jason Tan
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