HTC to strengthen sales in Taiwan and Asia for expanding global market share

HTC has mapped out plans to push up sales in Taiwan and a number of Asia Pacific markets, aiming to expand its share in the global smartphone market to a double-digit range.

To do so, HTC has set sights on becoming Taiwan's top smartphone vendor by early 2011 with at least a 40% market share, and then replicating the success in other Asia-Pacific markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Jack Tong, vice-president of HTC Asia.

It seems that the Taiwan-based smartphone company could be targeting Apple's iPhone for its quest to strengthen sales in Asia. Tong commented that in many Asia-Pacific countries, HTC and Apple's market shares are about the same, and he believes in these markets, HTC smartphones have an upper hand in terms of platform selection, brand awareness, sales channel penetration and the potential of the Android-enabled market.

Distributing the iPhone is a big commitment for telecom carriers, which have to invest heavily on marketing campaigns and dedicate a huge chunk of bandwidth for iPhone users, industry sources said. Therefore, though the iPhone is a great revenue stream, it is not necessarily the most profitable for carriers, the sources said, adding that it is only natural for distributors to diversify and look for options that are less costly.

Sources from HTC further pointed out that Apple's one-device, one-platform business model, which leads to long product lifecycles, is a disadvantage. HTC, with a more complete product mix that offers more price points, operating system support and new models every 2-3 months should be a better option for carriers.

According to handset component suppliers, HTC has an internal target of 24 million units in shipments for 2010, which should allow it to grab more than a 10% share of the global market. Apple ships about 40 million iPhones annually.

In the first quarter of 2010, Apple and HTC's shares of the smartphone market worldwide were 15.9% and 5.1%, respectively, according to research firm Canalys.

For Taiwan, Nokia is the number one smartphone vendor with a 40% market share, followed by Apple with 27%, according to research firm GFK.