HTC will bring this year a first wearable device to market. This has revealed in an interview with Bloomberg, the Board Chairman Cher Wang. At the same time, confirming rumors circulating for some time, according to which the ailing mobile phone maker plans a foothold in the relatively young market for Wearable Tech.
“We observed Smart Watches and wearables for several years, but we believe that we must first solve the battery and LCD light problems,” said Wang. “These are critical problems for clients.” When and what exactly HTC customers can expect this year, but not Wang said.
In an interview with the Financial Times had HTC CEO Peter Chou means the market for Wearable Tech as a “crucial segment for us” in October. At the same time, he expressed doubt that it was the right time to invest in the area. According to another Bloomberg report HTC is working on a Smart Watch with Google’s mobile operating system Android and a camera.
emerging wearables market today already frolicking manufacturers such as Samsung , Sony and Qualcomm. Intel announced its entry at the beginning of the year. Even Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nokia and ZTE to begin planning Smart Watches. Among the best known representatives already available in the fledgling market include Samsung’s Galaxy Gear except the funded via Kickstarter Pebble and Sony SmartWatch 2 They cost between 150 and 350 dollars. In general, let the clocks connect wirelessly to a smartphone and inform the user of incoming calls, SMS and emails.
HTC for years has been suffering under the fierce competition in the smartphone market, which is dominated by Apple and Samsung. In the third quarter of 2013, reported the first loss since its IPO in 2002. As a result, CEO Peter Chou gave some of his duties to Chairwoman Cher Wang, to concentrate more on innovation and product development and to regain lost market share.
The 2014 will run as positive for HTC 2013, CFO Chang Chialin promised in talks with Bloomberg. However, he would give no specific outlook for Monday before a scheduled investor conference.
Last month, HTC had reported a net profit of 310 million Taiwan dollars (about 10 million U.S. dollars) for the fourth quarter. In the same period of the previous year the figure was 1.01 billion Taiwan dollars (34 million U.S. dollars). Due to massive austerity measures and the sale of its remaining 25 percent stake in headphone maker Beats Electronics for $ 265 million, the company was able to avoid a second quarterly loss in a row.
[With material by Steven Musil, News.com]
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