The fourth quarter typically gives consumer electronics companies a big boost each year thanks to the holiday shopping rush, but stiff competition and weak marketing efforts from HTC (2498) resulted in a disastrous December quarter. The Taiwan-based smartphone maker on Monday reported fourth-quarter profit of just NT$1 billion ($34.5 million) — its lowest quarterly profit since 2004 — on NT$60 billion ($2.69 billion) in sales. The company’s net profit fell 91% year-over-year and missed analysts’ NT$1.48 billion consensus by a wide margin. HTC CEO Peter Chou recently acknowledged some of his company’s shortcomings and said it will focus more on marketing in 2013. HTC’s top rivals Samsung (005930) and Apple (AAPL) each have marketing budgets that reach into the billions, however, so the company will have to find other ways to compete if it hopes to reverse its struggles.
HTC posts disastrous Q4 as profit hits 8-year low
Published Jan 7th, 2013 1:40PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
