HTC has announced that it is closing its sales office in South Korea and that it is pulling out of the country entirely, most likely due to slow sales. HTC’s move isn’t that surprising since they recently closed up shop in Brazil. The South Korean market has always been a tough place to compete, even for the likes of Apple and its almighty iPhone. Local consumers are always craving the latest in consumer technology, but with market leaders like Samsung and LG dominating the playing field, it’s probably best for HTC to focus its efforts on growing markets where it can capture significant market and mind share without too much of a financial investment.
South Koreans will still be able to get support for their current HTC handsets through their service providers and HTC is promising to honor existing warranties and even update handsets to newer software versions once they become available.
[quote]As part of a regular review of all lines of business and markets in which the company operates, HTC will close its Korea sales office with immediate effect. HTC will continue to provide after sales service and customer service functions through its local operator partners – SKT and KT, and will continue to honour all existing product warranties. In addition, the company will endeavour to provide updates to existing products available in the market.
HTC believes Korea is one of the most advanced and fast growing smartphone markets in the world, and will carefully evaluate introducing innovative mobile devices in Korea should the opportunity arise in future.
[/quote]We never like to write stories about HTC retreating from markets, but it’s reassuring to see that HTC is actively reining in its overhead expenses in an effort to regain its focus on being more profitable which should help the company get back on track.
Source: The Verge
