Taiwan’s HTC, one of the world’s largest smartphone brands, will make China one of its biggest market with massive expansion underway.
HTC plans to add 1000 to 2000 stores to its current network of 2000 this year to meet the strong demand in first-tier cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Guanzhou as well as second- and third-tier cities such as Nanjing.
“I think it definitely will start first from first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and also in western China, such as in Sichuan, Chongqing and Yunnan. We’ll get to second-tier and third-tier cities step by step,” said HTC North Asia-Pacific region president Jack Tong .
The stores will promote the latest smartphone model HTC One X, which Tong believes will surpass the revenue of HTC Desire, a model launched in May 2010 which accounted for the 63.1 per cent growth in shipments during the second quarter of that year.
“We hope to offer premium services and make sure customers have a high quality experience when walking into HTC-managed concept stores,” said Tong.
HTC One X, which attracted 50,000 pre-sale orders in the last week, is scheduled for release in Taiwan on Monday and will be launched worldwide in April.
HTC, whose market share in China was around two per cent last year, hopes to boost its share through more stores and launching new products.
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