Can Facebook + One save its soul?Net profits slump 98% to NT$85 ($2.8m) for the first quarter 2013, HTC said today.
Net income after tax was NT$4.4bn Q1 2012 and comes after its One Android smartphone, flagged by critics as a brilliant device was delayed for over a month, after suppliers failed to give it priority, leading to severe shortages of components for its ‘Zoe’ camera.
The Taiwanese maker announced the results for 1Q 2013 the same week its new HTC ‘First’ smartphone bagged the Home for Facebook and put the One Android smartphone on pre-sale in Australia.
HTC said One would disrupt the market and Samsung and Apple’s smartphone duopoly when it was launched in February last year, and coupled with the street cred being the ‘First’ phone to come with Facebook Home pre-installed, may save it from an uncertain future and pull its revenues up after over a year of declining fortunes.
Although March revenue was down almost 50% compared to same time 2012, to NT15.8bn, it was the highest revenue figure recorded by HTC this year.
Operating income was NT$43 million and operating margin was 0.1 percent, Bloomberg calculated.
