HTC One has crossed the 5 million mark in terms of the number of units sold since the launch a month ago, reports WSJ citing an unidentified HTC Corp (TPE:2498) executive.
The unidentified executive told the journal “orders are pretty good so far and are still more than what we can supply.” For the shortage of the devices, the executive pointed towards issues with component availability. The executive cautioned that even after selling five million units, it is too early to comment on the success of the device.
HTC’s Dismal Performance
The Taiwanese firm has been struggling since the last couple of years owing to declining demand for its devices. The handset maker is facing stiff competition from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930). The Korean company recently launched its own flagship device the Galaxy S4. Samsung also announced that it sold 10 million units of its flagship device in less than a month.
Apart from the fierce competition, HTC Corp (TPE:2498) has also been witnessing top-level executive departures. HTC’s Asia CEO has resigned from the company recently. Kouji Kodera, chief product officer of HTC Corp (TPE:2498), left the handset maker last week. Other key executives who left the company are Jason Gordon, vice president of global communications; Rebecca Rowland, global retail marketing manager; John Starkweather, digital marketing director; and Eric Lin, product strategy manager.
If the performance of the company does not improve then one more name in the list of the departing employees could be of Peter Chou, HTC Corp (TPE:2498) CEO. Chou vowed to resign if HTC One doesn’t perform. For the first quarter, the Taiwanese firm reported 98 percent drop in profits, now much depends on the performance of the HTC One, to boost the second quarter earnings.
Experts are also blaming the dismal performance of HTC First or the Facebook phone, as one of the reasons for the failure of the company. The Taiwanese firm failed to impress the users despite slashing the price to $0.99 with a two-year contract with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), compared to the original price of $99. The networking giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also contributed a little as initially it planned to launch Facebook Home app exclusively to HTC, but later it offered the app through Google Play for selected Android smartphones.
On Thursday trading, HTC Corp (TPE:2498) shares closed at TW $282.50, marking the second-lowest dip since 2005.
