HTC aims to double UAE market share by next year

Dubai: HTC aims to double its market share in the Middle East and Africa region with the addition of a new phablet (smartphone-tablet combo) to the HTC One family.

The Taiwanese firm on Monday said it will launch its 5.9-inch HTC One max in the UAE and Saudi Arabia on November 5. The device is priced at Dh2,799.

It has a fingerprint scan feature similar to Apple’s iPhone 5S. The device is powered by a 1.7Ghz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and runs on the latest Android 4.3 software. The internal storage can be expanded up to 64GB using microSD card.

“We had a very good penetration in the Saudi Arabia. It was the most successful year for HTC in the Middle East. We have around four per cent market share in the region. In the UAE, we have around eight per cent market share and expect to have around 10 per cent market share by the end of the year,” Mohammad Kais Zribi, regional director for HTC Middle East and North Africa, told Gulf News.

Zribi aims to achieve a 15 per cent market share in the UAE and around eight per cent market share in the Middle East and Africa region by next year.

Screen size popularity

Daniel Gleeson, mobile analyst at IHS Electronics and Media, said that the phablet space is important for HTC due to the screen size’s popularity in Asia, which is becoming an increasingly more important market for HTC. This is primarily due to HTC’s rapidly diminishing sales in North America, rather than growing sales in Asia. The HTC Butterfly was well received last year and HTC is again aiming this phablet device at Asian markets.

He said that Samsung, Sony and LG are all able to leverage their resources for large marketing campaigns, but are also able to cut attractive deals with operators for shelf space and special staff training.

When asked why HTC is not spending more on marketing budget, he said that the company does not have deep pockets. But “we are trying to stand out” with our products. “We are bringing innovations to our products and there is more investment coming into the Middle East next year.”

The Middle East and Africa markets “will be the engine of growth for the smartphone market while Europe and the US are becoming saturated,” Zribi said.

Quoting reports, he said that screen sizes of five-inch and above are the fastest growing with 23 per cent year-on-year growth while 4.5-4.9 inch screen sizes registered a growth rate of 17 per cent.

According to reports, 54 per cent of smartphone users use Google Maps, followed by Facebook with 44 per cent and YouTube with 35 per cent.