HTC One delay considered the cause of worst quarterly results ever
Multiple issues plagued the production of the much awaited HTC One, leading to a rather dismal showing in the Q1'13. Lost opportunity for HTC?
HTC Corporation revealed its unaudited first quarter results of 2013, and the numbers are disappointing. According to the numbers shared, the net profit was NT$85 million in its January-March 2013 quarter, compared with NT$1 billion in the previous quarter and NT$10.9 billion in the corresponding period in 2012. This result is the lowest it has ever garnered, since HTC began reporting quarterly profits in 2004.
The result is well below the expectations of various analysts, who had estimated that HTC will have at least NT$465 million net profit. Q1 ‘13 revenue of NT$42.8 billion is much lower than the NT$50-60 billion target that HTC had talked about earlier this quarter. Revenue in Q4 ‘12 was NT$60 billion.
“As HTC failed to establish its brand image by selling its most important flagship phone on time, it’ll be very difficult to push on the mid- and low-end phones when HTC launches them in Q3-Q4. Sales in the second quarter will bounce, but they will lose momentum again in Q3-Q4.”, said Dennis Chan, an analyst with Yuanta Securities in Taipei, while speaking with Reuters.
The biggest reason for the bad result has been the delay in the production of the HTC One, with component shortages leading to one delay after the other. The phone is now hitting markets slowly and steadily, with the Indian announcement coming yesterday, but this is being called as a lost opportunity for the company.
The One was supposed to have been available in more than 50 countries by March, but till now, it is available in single digit number of countries. In a perfect scenario, the One would have had a huge advantage over the Samsung Galaxy S4, which will be its closest rival. The company just announced the Facebook phone, HTC First, but that may not be enough to revive the numbers if the flagship phone’s production keeps faltering.
Source: HTC