Smartphones and tablets maker HTC this morning said it foresees a huge drop in revenue (PDF) in the first quarter, citing “short-term difficulties” as it gears up to – reportedly – launch four new phone models at the Mobile World Congress later this month.
The Taiwanese company sees revenue dropping as much as 36 percent in Q1, to between NT$65 billion and NT$70 billion (roughly $2.2 and $2.4 billion) due to this “product transition”. → Read More
News of HTC’s forthcoming Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Ville has been making the rounds since last November, but now with Mobile World Congress less than a month away, we’re finally getting our first real look at it. HTC-Hub has managed to get their hands on a pretty extensive hands-on video, and it looks like the Ville is shaping up to a pretty impressive mid-range device. → Read More
HTC has gotten to be remarkably good at churning out phone after phone these days, but it’s gotten to feel like each new release is too little too soon. Thankfully, the godfather of Android hardware has come to its senses, as revealed by Mobile Today.
According to HTC UK head Phil Roberson, 2012 is going to be all about giving their customers “something special.” To that end, HTC plans to focus on a smaller number of “hero” smartphones and dial back their presence in the tablet market. → Read More
Most of the furor surrounding the Carrier IQ diagnostic software has wound down by now, but that doesn’t mean that the companies involved have already forgotten. HTC has confirmed to The Verge that they were working with Sprint to push out maintenance updates that would remove the Carrier IQ software from affected devices. → Read More
HTC released their unaudited Q4 financials earlier this morning, and as expected, they indicate a disappointing decline for the Taiwanese hardware vendor.
The company’s net operating income was down to NT$12.9 billion ($426 million), a nearly $22 percent decline from their position this time last year. HTC’s revenues were similarly impacted — they only managed to pull in NT$101 billion ($3.35 billion), which represents a 2.49% year-over-year dip, and a nearly 25% decrease from their impressive Q3 figures. → Read More
Though they had until April of next year to figure out a fix for their patent-infringing UI feature, HTC CEO Peter Chou has reaffirmed to the media that the company has already has a solution ready to go at a joint press conference with Google’s Mobile SVP Andy Rubin. → Read More
Apple has been duking it out with Android manufacturers for the past couple years, and very few are safe. Samsung has already suffered some big losses with the banning of its Galaxy Tab in Germany and Australia. HTC, however, has remained mostly safe from Apple’s wrath.
In July the Taiwanese manufacturer had a close call, as Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski ruled that HTC was infringing two of Apple’s proposed 10 patents. Of course, before any serious action could be taken the ITC needed to have a look, which is exactly what’s happened.
Luckily for HTC, most of the infringement “charges” have been dropped, save for two claims in one patent, ruled the ITC. → Read More
Senator Al Franken pressed certain members of the wireless industry over two weeks ago for answers about their use of Carrier IQ, the controversial monitoring software that sparked fears that our personal data was being tracked without consent. Now that the deadline has come and gone, Senator Franken had a chance to review their statements and publish them in full on his website.
After reviewing each company’s official responses to his questions, Senator Franken noted that he’s still “very troubled” by the situation at hand. → Read More
Even though HTC has just come off of a record-breaking third quarter, it seems like some of the company’s mobile momentum is evaporating. The Taiwanese company recently cut their Q4 sales forecasts by more than 20%, and thanks to HTC’s unaudited November financials, it’s clear that the move was a wise one.
The financial report reveals a considerable drop in revenue when compared to HTC’s performance this time in 2010. Last month HTC had revenues of NT$30.9 billion (or $1.02 billion), while last year they managed to pull in nearly NT$38.5 billion ($1.27 billion). That’s almost a 20% dip in revenues year-over-year, which could put an end to HTC’s continuous growth streak. → Read More
To say that Carrier IQ has been going through a lot is a bit of an understatement, and it looks like things are only getting worse. PaidContent reports that two class action lawsuits — one from Missouri and the other from Illinois — have been filed against the Mountain View-based company for supposedly violating the Federal Wiretap Act.
They’re not the only ones either: handset manufacturers HTC and Samsung have also been named as defendants in one lawsuit each. → Read More
Yandex, the Russian online search and advertising giant, has teamed up with Microsoft, Nokia, HTC and Samsung to become the default search engine on the latest – and upcoming – Windows Phone smartphones in Russia.
Yandex’s search engine is currently installed on Samsung’s Оmnia W, which is already on sale in Russia, as well as on Nokia’s Windows Phone-powered Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 smartphones, which will hit stores in December. → Read More
While smartphone adoption continues to pick up steam here in the U.S., new research from Strategy Analytics shows that China is hungrier for smartphones than we are. For the first time ever, China has pulled ahead of the United States in terms of the number of smartphones shipped. → Read More
With the HTC Vivid garnering mixed reviews, it looks like the device’s name may be the most interesting thing about it. At least one company thinks so, anyway: the porn peddlers at Vivid Entertainment have filed a cease and desist notice against the company for use of the “Vivid” name.
According to TMZ, Vivid’s legal counsel filed the notice because they are afraid consumers will think the LTE-capable smartphone is somehow connected to Vivid’s adult video empire. Yes, really. Just let that sink in for a moment. → Read More
It looks like someone over at HTC just can’t keep their mouth shut. Not that I’m complaining, mind you: the newly-leaked HTC Ville looks like a device after my own heart.
The Boy Genius himself reports that the Ville has a 4.3-inch qHD (that’s 960×540) Super AMOLED display, with a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor under the hood. Sorry quad-core fans: you’ll have to look elsewhere for your fix. The Ville manages to make up for it with an HSPA+ radio and a remarkably svelte metal chassis that comes in at under 8mm thick. Oh, and who could forget the inclusion of Beats Audio support? → Read More
Dual-core processors? How passe. If the story surrounding this leaked render holds true, then HTC is already hard at work on their first quad-core powerhouse of a smartphone: the Edge.
At first glance, it doesn’t look much different than any other device HTC has put out in recent memory. The Edge reportedly sports a 4.7-inch 720p display and 1GB of RAM, which is great but let’s face it — that’s not why you’re here.
→ Read More
With leaks galore and this afternoon’s announcement, there’s not much reason to rehash HTC Rezound deets. So I’ll just cut to the chase and hit you guys with some first impressions. → Read More
The HTC Rezound (formerly the Vigor) has been on our radar for what seems like forever now, but we’re here in New York City for HTC’s big event, and they have just officially pulled back the curtains on their next Gingerbread-powered smartphone. Fear not though, Ice Cream Sandwich fans: the Rezound will ship ready for Ice Cream Sandwich, and HTC and Verizon are aiming to push it to the Rezound early next year. → Read More
By now it’s no secret that HTC’s Verizon-bound Rezound will debut shortly, but the stars seem to have aligned recently, because we’re absolutely swimming in Rezound-related news. Most notably, a video demoing the Rezound in action has begun to make the rounds, and it gives us our best glimpse yet Verizon’s next holiday heavyweight. → Read More
For a few months now AT&T has had an LTE network, but no phones that could take advantage of it. Well, that all changes today — AT&T has just announced that the Android-powered HTC Vivid and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket will be the first to run on their LTE network, and will hit store shelves on November 6. → Read More
While Samsung’s somewhat disputed earnings report has left it on top for the third quarter this year, HTC has also announced record numbers in its Q3 earnings report. → Read More
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