HTC set to face fierce competition in smartphone segment in 2010, say sources Tweet

HTC is set to see increasing competition in the global smartphone market in 2010 as other branded vendors, including Motorola, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics (LGE) and Sony Ericsson are gearing up the launch of smartphones, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Motorola actually replaced HTC as the fourth largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2009 in terms of volume shipments, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) quoted IDC data as indicating. According to the data, Motorola shipped 2.5 million smartphones for a 4.6% share in the segment in the quarter ended December 31, 2009, whereas HTC shipped 2.4 million units for a 4.4% share during the same period, the paper noted

Although Samsung is currently still trailing behind HTC in the smartphone vendor ranking, the Korea-based vendor has already rolled out Windows Mobile-, Android- and LiMo-based smartphones and plans to launch its own Bada-platform models starting the second quarter of 2010, the sources noted.

Samsung is expected to ship 8-10 million smartphones in 2010 compared to 5.7 million units shipped in 2009, estimated the sources.

LGE has said that it plans to launch more than 20 smartphones in 2010 and aims to ship a total of 10 million units of those smartphones this year. However, industry sources in Taiwan contended that LGE's target is too high and predicted the company may ship 3-5 million smartphones in 2010.

Sony Ericsson is thriving to strengthen its competitiveness in the segment by increasing outsourcing to the Foxconn Group, commented the sources, noting that Sony Ericsson is expected to launch its new Windows Mobile-based smartphone, the Aspen, in the second quarter of 2010.

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