Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has admitted to sagging profits and a need to strengthen its brand, a move that seems more critical as the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5 release date inches ever closer.
A conference call last Friday discussing the company’s financials reveal that they are expecting their revenue for the third quarter to hit anywhere between NT$ 70 billion to NT$ 80 billion. While seemingly impressive at first glance, this is actually much lower than the posted earnings of NT$ 91 billion for the second quarter. Reports are all showing that the company has been suffering from a year-over-year decrease between 41 and 48 per cent. These declines are attributed to the stiffening competition between them and their top rivals, Samsung and Apple. Both companies are currently gearing up for the launch of their new flagship phones. The Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5 release dates will also just be weeks apart.
In an interview shared by PC World, HTC CFO Chang Chia-Lin underscores the importance of improving the HTC brand name in order to remain relevant:
“HTC is still a young company. In a lot of countries, the brand awareness is fine. We need to focus more on the brand consideration and the brand preference.”
While already a veteran in the phone manufacturing industry for many years, the name HTC itself was not recognized as a phone brand until 2006. Chang says that their next move will involve bringing ” innovative products to the market, and leverage its strong partnerships with carriers.” The company will also be putting more emphasis on improving its “marketing, retail, and sales execution in order to better reach consumers.”
Sure, everyone right now is talking about the pending Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 5 release dates. But HTC has always been a solid phone manufacturer and has dabbled in the different types of platforms available out there. It would be interesting what new designs they’ll be coming up with in the near future to compete with Samsung and Apple.