Telecom Lead Asia: Smartphone major HTC has announced
three new entry-level models in Taiwan.
The three – Desire C, Desire V and Desire VC – will hit
the Taiwanese market this month. Of the three, Desire V and VC have garnered
more interest as they support two cards and two sets of numbers, aiming
specifically at businesspeople traveling back and forth between Taiwan and
China.
The two models are also made for telecom operators on the
other side of the strait.
Desire C will be distributed exclusively by Far EasTone
Telecommunications and will be given for free if users subscribe to the NT$738
monthly plan. The other two models will be available at HTC retailers
throughout the island.
Besides the three entry-level models, HTC will also roll
out various middle- to high-price models in June including the HTC One S, which
costs NT$17,900.
The HTC One models are seen as the company’s weapons for
competing with Samsung, which recently rolled out the Galaxy S3.
According to data compiled by Taiwan’s telecom operators,
HTC One X took the No. 1 spot in terms of smartphone sales in April.
Smartphone maker HTC posts 35% dip in Q1 revenue to
$2.3 billion
HTC reported unaudited consolidated revenue of
NT$67.79 billion ($2.3 billion) for the first quarter of 2012, a drop of 34.92
percent from a year earlier.
From January to February, the company reported consolidated
revenue of NT$36.91 billion, a year-on-year drop of 45 percent, while its
revenue in March managed to post 52.19 percent growth from the previous month
to meet its former forecast.
During the first three months of
2012, HTC posted NT$5.55 billion in unaudited net pre-tax profit, or
NT$5.35 per share, while its operating income was around NT$5.01 billion.
Recently, HTC unveiled the One series of phones for the Asian markets on April 2.
The handsets ius priced around o Tw$20,900 ($706).
The launch of a new series of smartphones is aimed at
taking on rival device makers Apple and Samsung.
