Those waiting for HTC One to arrive in the market will have to wait longer. Taiwan-based HTC has delayed the release of its newest flagship – the HTC One, which was unveiled in February in London and was to start rolling out by this month. The unexpected postponement of the release to March end or April is due to shortage of parts from suppliers.
HTC executives confirmed the news with The Wall Street Journal stating that the company has a problem managing its component suppliers because of drastic changes in its order forecasts and last year’s unexpected slump in shipments. The company has apparently had difficulty in securing adequate camera components as it is no longer a tier-one customer. Though the specifics haven’t been mentioned, the most probable reason would be the complications in manufacturing the all-metal frame around the phone. The admission by HTC’s own executive that the smartphone maker is no longer in the top priority list is quite shocking. However, this was coming for HTC, especially now that it has resolved to come out with lesser devices per year, concentrating instead on fewer more high quality releases.
As per the current plan, HTC will fulfil pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will gradually expand to the others by April. Further details as to which markets will come first have not been specified. CMO Benjamin Ho also stated that everyone in the company is working tirelessly to fulfil as many orders as possible at the earliest.
This delay may turn out to be another blow for HTC, which cannot afford to make mistakes at this point of time. The company has been struggling to improve sales revenue, and had hoped to have a blockbuster release on its hands with the release of the ‘One’, which according to CEO Peter Chou was a ‘technological breakthrough’. The phone was supposed to give tough competition for the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S IV, which was released recently.
HTC’s smartphone market share has dropped from 8.8% to 4.6% in the last year and its net profit dropped down by 91% to Tw$1.0 billion (USD $34.5 million). The company has recently shifted its focus to emerging markets like China as Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the mature markets.
