It may not seem like it from the sheer volume of new product being
released by HTC, but the company has not had a great run of luck as of
late. In nine days its share price has dropped 30% due to a number of
factors that have led to a perfect storm of selling off. First, it cut
its growth expectation for the coming fourth quarter to zero, and
shorted its expected phone shipment to 45 million units. While its previous quarter
was its biggest on record, the world’s fourth-biggest smartphone maker
is struggling against a resurgent Apple with the iPhone 4S, and an
indelibly strong Samsung with its Galaxy lineup.
In addition to the blows on the street, HTC has been dealt two additional hits: they lost
a patent infringement case last week after accusing Apple of edging in
on a patent they obtained with the purchase of S3 Graphics. That
acquisition, as a result of the defeat, has been called into question.
Apple also has several patent infringement cases against HTC awaiting a
decision, the first of which is expected at the beginning of December.
But 2012 is another year, and with it another opportunity to wow
customers. HTC has been trying to differentiate itself from the rest of
the Android market by bundling
high-quality Beats headphones with their high-end devices, a result of
their acquisition of Beats Audio earlier in the year. With the release
of the Amaze and Raider they have stepped up their game against Samsung
and Apple, offering exceptional camera quality and network speeds.
We’ve already seen the rumoured HTC Ville and even more powerful Zeta,
and expectations are high for the company’s first crop of Android 4.0
devices. Whether they can stem the tide of slowdown — they’re expected
to only grow 7% next year — by continuing to tether itself to Android
remains to be seen.
HTC CFO Winston Yung said “We will focus on the product next
year, better and more competitive. Other than new LTE phones for the
U.S. market, we have phones for the global market. We will launch some
worldwide flagship products. We’re confident in them”.
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