It’s no secret that the mobile market is an über-competitive one. And last month, manufacturer HTC was dealt a heavy blow, with sales plummeting to numbers the company hasn’t seen since November 2010. Ouch.
ZDNet reported that in February, the company’s revenue was just $383 million. That may not seem like such a small number, but it’s a staggering 44 percent lower than its revenue from the same time last year. It saw a similar drop in their fourth quarter numbers, which is a bad sign for the Taiwan-based manufacturer.
The only potential saving grace for the company at this point is its new flagship smartphone, the HTC One, which debuted a few weeks ago.
Since the phone hasn’t yet been made available to the public, it’s hard to say how well-received it will be once it hits the market. But it goes without saying, it needs to be a relative hit or the company is going to be in some serious trouble. It won’t likely survive for very long with such dramatic drops in revenue.
Luckily though, the more affordable HTC Desire model has recently increased shipments to China dramatically. As we reported recently, China is a hugely important market for all mobile manufacturers, as it just laid claim to being home to the most active mobile accounts on the planet. To boot, it’s among the fastest growing markets out there.
Given this information, it could be a smart move for HTC to focus their attention on increased marketing efforts in China, in which case, it should consider developing more affordable models, since that’s what is in the highest demand there.
