Taipei, July 3, 2009 (CENS)--The Taiwan-based High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), a globally famous developer of smartphones, will launch 6-7 new smartphones under own brand of "htc" in the U.S. in the second half of this year for the first time, and expects its smartphone sales in the market to surge 50% in the year, according to Peter Chou, CEO of the firm.

Chou indicated that HTC, although facing the global financial system collapse, still projected its smartphone shipment to surge 20% to 14.5 million units this year, with over 40%, or 6 million units, to be sold in the U.S. market and around 30% in Europe and Asia each.

HTC has cooperated with the U.S.`s top 4 telecom service providers, namely AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, on promotion of its smartphones for years, most of which have yet to be sold under the "htc" brand. However, the firm this year has successfully secured distribution channels of own-brand smartphones through cooperation with these telecom companies this year, according to Chou. This will help to boost the firm`s brand recognition among consumers in the market.

Overall speaking, Chou added, HTC has been listed among the top 3 smartphone suppliers in the U.S. in terms of market shares, only trailing Apple and RIM at present. Besides, the firm is likely to debut its first functional touch phone jointly developed by Verizon and Qualcomm in the third quarter of the year.

HTC`s Major Distributors in the World
Region	Contribution	Distributor (Client)	Models
North America	40%	AT&T	3 models
		Verizon	Pro2, Snap
		Sprint Nextel	2 models
		T-Mobile	My Touch 3G
		Rogers	Dream, Magic
Europe	30%	Vodafone	Magic
		T-Mobile	Hero, Windows Mobile-installed models
		Orange	Hero, Windows Mobile-installed models
Asia	30%	Chunghwa Telecom Co.	Magic, Diamond2
		NTT DoCoMo	Magic
		China Mobile Ltd.	2.75G Magic
		China Telecom Corporation Ltd.	Custom 3G models
		China Unicom Ltd.	Custom 3G models

Source: HTC, institutional investors

(by Steve Chuang)