In my latest article, Kyocera Rugged Smartphones To Take US By Storm, I discuss how Kyocera Communications Inc is poised to expand their presence in the North American market with a new line of rugged devices for 2014. Kyocera is projecting a 9% rise in unit sales and a 7.7% increase in revenue. Kyocera has a 5.3% share of the North American handset market, placing the firm behind Samsung Electronics, Apple and LG Electronics, according to Gartner data for the first half of the 2013.
In stark contrast, the news looks grim for HTC Corp in the North American smartphone market as they recently announced that the firm would streamline and optimize in order to improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth. In plain English, HTC Corp is losing market share in North America and no longer needs as many employees to maintain their presence in the current market condition.
The rest of the press release from HTC Corp is just a cryptic and goes on to explain that they need to shift employment focus from North America to emerging markets, such as India. In no uncertain terms the press release goes on to mention the emerging markets and their desire to forge strong customer relationships in those markets.
The press release continues by stating their desire to achieve long-term goals and return value to HTC Corp shareholders. On the other end of that desire is a feel-good attitude towards the employees they just let go and encourage them to re-apply. Only one catch, the laid-off employees must pack their bags as they will have to relocate to an emerging market or look for employment elsewhere.
But perhaps the news from HTC Corp is not all bad. What HTC Corp taketh from North America, HTC Corp giveth to India. Faisal Siddiqui of HTC Corp India told The Hindu newspaper, “India is a very important market for us. We are putting a lot of efforts and investments in increasing our market share here. We will be introducing 3-5 new models this year, including the HTC One Mini. We’ll also expand our retail presence and service network,”