In an interview, HTC Marketing Chief Benjamin Ho said Wednesday that some executives left due to dissatisfaction about changes at the company, while others left due to unrelated personal reasons.

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As it happens, the report came a week before chipmaker Intel is due to report quarterly earnings on April 16. In a research note today, Stacy Rasgon of Sanford Bernstein sized up its prospects for the quarter and the rest of the year.

There’s a chance that the actual on-the-ground results may yet be worse than what the research firms detected. Relying on data from Taiwanese notebook manufacturers including Compal, Quanta and Wistron, sales were down in the first quarter by more than 18 percent, worse than the 11 percent to 13 percent drop reported by Gartner and IDC.

So what does that mean for Intel, the world’s largest supplier of computer chips and long considered an important bellwether of the overall tech economy? Nothing good, Rasgon argues. He expects Intel to report revenue of $12.43 billion, nearly $200 million below the consensus expectation of $12.6 billion. He expects earnings on a per-share basis to be 41 cents.

“Given the recent atrocious PC numbers, we believe investors may not be hugely surprised by weak outlook at this point (at least, they certainly shouldn’t be now),” he wrote.

Other key questions for Intel: Who will be the next CEO? And will Intel say anything about it on the conference call after earnings are announced? If you haven’t been keeping track, here’s a good rundown on who’s likely to be in the race, both internal and external. (Here’s a hint: It’s going to be an internal contender; Intel has never hired an outside CEO.)

“It is rapidly approaching high time for the company to provide color on a replacement,” Rasgon wrote. “While it appears they are actively vetting both internal and external candidates, we do not expect significant strategic changes regardless of the eventual choice as they have started the ball rolling on several initiatives that would be difficult to stop. … We would hope (but do not necessarily expect) that the company could provide additional information on the succession plan.”

Still, analysts said that the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, commonly known as Foxconn, may see its growth slow in the first quarter of this year and beyond, citing concerns over Apple’s sales outlook.

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On the back of Android, the former contract manufacturer rose to become one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, earning praise for its design and ability to rapidly incorporate new technologies.

But after years of dramatic growth, the company saw its fortunes fall even faster than they rose. Last year, HTC put much of its attention on the high end of the market, where much of the industry’s focus and profits are found. In doing so, though, it ran smack dab into the marketing and manufacturing prowess of larger rivals, particularly Korea’s Samsung.

On Tuesday, the company is launching what most expect to be the company’s latest flagship model. The company itself has been giving out some hints at the product, while tech sites have posted various other rumored details and pictures of a product code-named M7.

Whether HTC can find ways to out-innovate in 2013 remains to be seen, but its story should provide a cautionary tale for other device makers that have found success at the low end and are now seeking to move higher up.

There is fierce competition at the low end, to be sure, but there are lots of niches to be found, especially in making devices customized to the needs of a particular carrier, even selling those devices under those carrier’s brand names.

It’s the part of the market that has proved lucrative for Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. Both of those companies, though, have aimed to move upmarket, producing higher-end devices and seeking to elevate their own brands.

That’s a similar tack to the one taken by HTC — one that worked great, right up until it didn’t.

Now the company is aiming to boost its marketing efforts, but even with a louder voice, it still risks being drowned out by Apple and Samsung — both of which have a fortune to spend on ads.

And what bizarre magic it is:

Taiwan-based Hon Hai’s woes with its 1.5 million workers in China have run the gamut from underage workers and employee suicides to a full-blown riot at one plant in September. Foxconn, the trade name for Hon Hai, has also built new factories in inland China over the past decade and has occasionally faced difficulties attracting enough labor for the plants.

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The 7-inch tablet has created a big buzz this year with its low starting price of $199, but both Google and Asustek have been cagey about revealing actual sales figures.

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Makers of dynamic random access memory chips for PCs have been struggling in recent years with falling prices and slack demand as PC manufacturers cope with the slowdown. And while DRAM prices had recovered some as oversupply temporarily eased with the bankruptcy-protection filing in February of Japan’s sole maker, Elpida Memory Inc., they have resumed their downward trend in recent months.

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The Taiwanese company, which also uses the trade name Foxconn Technology Group, said that it had employed interns as young as 14 at its campus in Yantai, in the northeastern Chinese province of Shandong, for approximately three weeks. Hon Hai said it took “immediate steps” to return the interns to their educational institutions.

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The Taoyuan-based company, which has been steadily losing ground against Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the lucrative market for smartphones, said in a statement that its third-quarter net profit was 3.9 billion New Taiwan dollars ($133 million), a sharp 79 percent fall from NT$18.64 billion a year earlier.

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Hon Hai, which assembles Apple Inc.’s iPad and iPhone, said its net profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to 27.53 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$918 million) from NT$27.38 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 25 percent to NT$1.89 trillion.

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Shares in HTC, an early adopter of Google Inc.’s Android operating system, fell by their daily 7 percent limit on Tuesday and ended at 240.50 New Taiwan dollars (US$8.04), extending Monday’s 6.9 percent decline. So far this year, HTC shares have fallen more than 50 percent.

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HTC said in a statement its unaudited net profit for the three months ended June 30 was $7.40 billion New Taiwan dollars ($247 million), down from NT$17.52 billion a year earlier. Its revenue dropped 27 percent to NT$91.0 billion from NT$124.40 billion.

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The Taiwan-based company built a following in the U.S. by being one of the first to sell smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system. It was the top seller of Android-based smartphones in the U.S. in 2010, with a market share of 11.8 percent, but lost the top spot to Samsung Electronics this year.

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The company said on Friday that it will officially announce its plans on April 16, at which time tablet owners can register on Asus’ Web site.

“It needs around two weeks for the shipping after registration online,” Asus said in a statement to AllThingsD.

Asus’ plan for a GPS-improving attachment was first mentioned earlier this week on the XDA developer forum. (The forum post appears to have been deleted.)

Hon Hai, which makes Apple’s iPhones and iPads under contract, has been facing pressure to improve wages and working conditions since several employee suicides at its facility in Shenzen in 2010 and an explosion in Chengdu in 2011 that killed four workers. Following the incidents, Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, increased salaries in China and outfitted worker dormitories with safety nets.

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The company, which grabbed market share in the U.S. and Europe through its early adoption of Google Inc.’s Android platform for mobile phones, is being challenged in those key markets by Samsung Electronics Co., Apple Inc., Nokia Corp. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., all of which have quickly expanded their premium smartphone offerings.

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The data center, which is slated for completion in early 2013, will be the third of its kind in Asia, joining two others that will be built in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Google has pledged an investment of $300 million in its Hong Kong data center and more than $100 million in Taiwan.

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White’s checks with Apple’s top Taiwan-based suppliers show a massive spike in component orders for the month — well above anything previously charted.

Typically, Apple’s supply chain shows a 2 percent increase in sales from month to month. But this past November, sales rose 17 percent.

That’s a more than an 8x increase.

Which obviously suggests some pretty strong demand trends in the run-up to the holiday shopping season. And Apple is certainly well poised to exploit them. As White observes, “The company’s portfolio for the holiday season is the hottest we have ever seen with the new iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and MacBook Air.”

So Apple’s first quarter will likely be a big one. And it will likely set a new record. Which means 2011 will be much like 2010, and 2009 before it. The fourth quarter of the calendar year has always been Apple’s strongest. No reason to believe it will be any different this year.

The Taiwanese cellphone maker, which has been on a rapid growth pace, had expected sales to grow between 20 percent and 30 percent, with gross margins of around 28 percent. It now expects sales will be flat from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg and other reports.

“Due to the global macro-economic downturn and market competition, the assumptions of our prior 2011 Q4 financial forecast are no longer applicable,” the company said in a statement. “HTC expects 2011 Q4 revenue to be approximately the same as Q4 last year. Despite the fact that 2011 Q4 revenue is not what we expected, HTC has strong confidence in its products and operation. We expect that growth will return in 2012 H1.”

It’s the second dose of bad news for HTC shareholders this week. On Monday, the International Trade Commission dismissed a patent claim by S3 Graphics against Apple. HTC had been hoping its acquisition of S3 would bolster its patent position in the company’s ongoing intellectual property war with Apple.

HTC said Wednesday that it is re-evaluating it’s S3 purchase

“HTC had decided to acquire S3 Graphics based on the strong belief that evidences of patent infringement from Apple were clear and ITC ruled in its initial determination that Apple had infringed two patents from S3,” HTC said in a statement to AllThingsD. “In light of recent development, HTC will work closely in good faith with VIA Technologies and WTI Investment International to conduct holistic re-evaluation of the S3 Graphics acquisition.”

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang.

When Cher Wang co-founded the Taiwan-based company in the late 1990s, it made notebook computers. Now, HTC is all about smartphones and tablets — two of the fastest-growing consumer electronic segments in the world — in a close relationship with Google’s Android unit.

But HTC has also been considering using its own mobile operating system, and faces challenges from a myriad of competitors.

Here’s Wang, in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, talking about all this and more:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111110/htc-chairwoman-cher-wang-talks-android-smartphones-and-more-the-full-asiad-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111031/cell-phone-etiquette-on-the-subways-of-seoul-and-taipei/ http://allthingsd.com/20111031/cell-phone-etiquette-on-the-subways-of-seoul-and-taipei/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:30:34 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=136442

Smartphones are a common sight on subways all around the world.

Even in places where cell signals are scant or nonexistent, the versatile devices are being used for playing games, listening to music and watching videos.

However, where there is a signal, cellphones are often a lightning rod for controversy: There’s an ongoing debate over how to handle something that can be very useful — and also very irritating to those nearby.

In Taipei, signs and recorded messages encourage commuters to think twice before annoying fellow passengers with loud conversations. A sign depicting a talking cellphone suggests that phone users consider sending a text message rather than talking and, if they must converse, urges them to keep things brief and and use a quiet tone.

On the subways of Seoul, where wireless coverage is strong and ubiquitous, there is plenty of opportunity to talk on cellphones. On the Web site for the Seoul subway system, transit authorities list tips on how to be a polite passenger, starting with using a soft voice and setting cellphone ringers on vibrate.

Instead of talking, many transit passengers opt to use their phones as on-the-go TVs, utilizing Korea’s unique mobile video service, known as Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB).

In both Taipei and Seoul, it was fairly uncommon to hear someone yakking away on their phone — something I hear all the time on the buses and streetcars of San Francisco, even if service here is a whole lot spottier.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111031/cell-phone-etiquette-on-the-subways-of-seoul-and-taipei/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111031/htc-earnings-and-sales-grow-steeply-but-fall-just-short-of-forecast/ http://allthingsd.com/20111031/htc-earnings-and-sales-grow-steeply-but-fall-just-short-of-forecast/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:52:18 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=138234 Smartphone maker HTC said on Monday that smartphone growth — particularly in China — allowed it to post a 68 percent increase in profits, as unit shipments nearly doubled from a year earlier.

Selling more than 13 million devices, the company posted earnings of $625 million (18.7 billion Taiwan dollars), or 73 cents per share, on revenue of $4.54 billion. Sales were notably strong in China, where the company saw sales volume nine times that of a year earlier. The sales and unit numbers were close to, but just shy of, the forecast that HTC issued in July.

“We aim to lead the way as the smartphone market continues to expand and change rapidly,” HTC CEI Peter Chou said in a statement. “We pride ourselves on anticipating market and consumer needs and addressing them before they are realized. We are growing rapidly and responsibly around the globe and continue to expand our leadership in new areas, such as LTE.”

The company’s average selling price of $344 per device was up less than 1 percent from a year ago, and down slightly from last quarter’s $349.

Looking ahead, the company forecasts that fourth-quarter revenue will be about $4.18 billion to $4.51 billion, which would be a 20 percent to 30 percent increase from a year ago, with gross margins of around 28 percent. Unit shipments are expected to be around 12 million to 13 million, a 31 percent to 42 percent increase from a year ago.

HTC plans to expand its presence in China by distributing in 2,000 additional retail locations; a new factory will boost the company’s output capacity by 40 million units a year.

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