HTC to Enter Tablet and Wearable Arenas
It looks as though the already crowded tablet market is about to get a little bigger. Last week during the New York unveiling of the HTC One M8, company CEO Peter Chou teased the inevitable release of an HTC-branded tablet and the company’s first foray into wearables.
It looks as though the already crowded tablet market is about to get a little bigger. Last week during the New York unveiling of the HTC One M8, company CEO Peter Chou teased the inevitable release of an HTC-branded tablet and the company’s first foray into wearables. While Chou was purposefully vague on the what, when and how of the new devices, he was effective in getting across his message that HTC comes to the table ready to compete with the big boys.
The China Post reported that Chou and company are focused on gaining market share in the smartphone industry to compete with Samsung and Apple (APPL), which currently are leading the pack in global smartphone sales. Chou hopes his company will gain 8 percent to 10 percent of the market “in the long term,” with the new HTC One and HTC Desire models leading the charge in the United States, Europe and China, the article noted.
And while the company remains firmly set on growing its smartphone market share, Chou also seems intent on breaking into the already flooded tablet world and the blossoming wearables market as well. While no official specs have been released about HTC’s mysterious devices, Chou would only say that both would be released “at the appropriate time.”
NDTV suspects that the proposed tablet could be the 8.9-inch version of Google’s Nexus tablet, although no there is no evidence to support this claim. As for more details on HTC’s proposed wearable, DigitalTrends was quick to point out that the company has been listed as one of Google’s main partners on its new Android Wear OS, along with Motorola and LG.
Of course, all of this remains as speculation until Chou makes any official announcements, which, by the look of his cryptic statements, might not be anytime soon.
For the most part, it seems HTC is facing an uphill battle on all fronts. According to Gartner, HTC owned less than 5 percent of the global smartphone market in 2013, making its bold claims to rise to the level of Apple and Samsung sound daunting, at the very least. It doesn’t help that the company also faced two quarterly operating losses in a row last year, even with the original HTC One receiving good reviews overall. Even though Chou doesn’t seem to be in a rush to bring to market a new tablet or release info on any proposed wearables, the company needs to do something to boost its standing so it isn’t overshadowed by the industry giants yet again.
