HTC’s financial struggles over the past couple of years have been very well documented by large sections of the global financial media. The tech media too, has extensively covered stories regarding the Taiwanese company’s trials and tribulations, what with its smartphone business failing to keep up with the likes of Samsung and Apple in recent times. With resources getting scarce and liabilities on the rise, it is only natural that the company will now start looking to streamline its operations by getting out of markets that don’t look as lucrative or as critical as some others. That being the case, the Taiwanese tech company has now announced that it will be shutting down its office in Italy although, the company does promise to carry on with its business in the country “through a network of local distribution partners”.
According to an official announcement earlier today by HTC, the closing down of its Italian office is part of a “strategic program of business realignment” which, the company hopes will allow it to adopt “a leaner and more agile operating model”. The company also expresses hope that “this new set up will position us for significant profitable growth across our three core businesses: smartphones, connected devices and virtual reality”. That final part of the puzzle – virtual reality – is exactly what HTC is banking heavily on, with its smartphone business failing to excite enthusiasts and mainstream users alike of late. Which is certainly a sad state of affairs, given that HTC was actually one of the first companies to have bet heavily on Android when the platform was still in its formative days, and a far cry from the polished, multi-functional and much-loved operating system it is today.
HTC made a name for itself with devices like the ‘Hero’, which was released back in 2009 and the ‘Dream’ (also known as the T-Mobile G1), which is widely believed to be the first-ever commercially-launched smartphone running on the Android platform. With all that nostalgia now far behind, the company and its many well-wishers worldwide must be hoping for its upcoming flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, as well as the much talked-about VR headset, the HTC Vive, to be successful so that the company is able to tide over these difficult times.