HTC has announced that they are shutting down their South Korean office at Seoul! Looks like the native players like LG , Samsung and Pantech are not letting the Taiwan manufacturer be quietly brilliant in their market!
HTC has been unique in its own way. But then, it has been having a really bad time selling their products internationally! Following the shut down of their Brazil office earlier this year, the company has now announced that their Korean office will be pull off from the country.
Many of the non-native firms (save Apple, of course) in Korea are finding it difficult to survive, amid the native giants LG and Samsung. With these native manufacturers ruling 90 percent shares of the Korean market, this leaves just one or two opportunities for companies like HTC to grow on these lands. So after ‘careful analysis on business’, HTC decides to shut its Seoul office for streamlining operations and concentrate sales on regions with better chances of success.
On this not-very-happy note, HTC regrets the “direct impact on people who have contributed the growth HTC has experienced in the past several years”. So what happens to the employees and their relocation options? HTC is not very sure as for now!
Korea may be an unwelcoming market for HTC, but their native companies like Samsung and LG are indeed managing a great progress in other regions of the world in the second quarter of this year. But then, HTC still has hope in other major markets across the world.
Maybe with the third quarter report due to be released, we’ll know how much hope is left for HTC!
Source: PC Germs