Dubai: Taiwanese mobile handset vendor HTC is pinning its hopes on new models — to be launched in the second quarter — to double its market share in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region this year from around 10 per cent last year, Florian Seiche, President of HTC EMEA, said.
"2010 was a fantastic year for the smartphone market. After a difficult 2009, the speed with which the market has rebounded has required real commitment and innovation from vendors and they have risen to the challenge.
"But vendors cannot afford to be complacent. 2011 is set to be a highly competitive year with vendors looking to use new technology to differentiate their products and maintain value," Seiche said.
For the very first time, he said that 100 million handsets were sold in the fourth quarter alone — a record.
This year many analysts predict that smartphones will outnumber feature phones. The company doubled its handset sales last year to 25 million globally.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million units in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010.
Moreover, the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market. The worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2 per cent this year. The company is launching five new smartphone models — ChaCha, Salsa, Wildfire S, Desire S, Incredible S — in the second quarter and a 7-inch HTC Flyer tablet with a 1.5GHZ processor. Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing to the number two position in 2010.
He said Nokia's recent announcement to move to Windows Phone will have a significant impact on the industry. "This does not mean that we will abandon the Windows platform. We are the first company to launch a range of Windows models last year and this year also we will be launching new models based on Windows 7 operating system. Last year more than 80 per cent of the Windows 7 sales were from HTC. We are progressing down a path as an industry when people will use a variety of wireless devices ideal for all their different needs."
