HTC shows bumper revenue and profits growth in 2011

TAIWANESE SMARTPHONE MAKER HTC has announced bumper financial results thanks to a near three-fold growth in revenues.

HTC announced that its first quarter 2011 profits were up by a staggering 191 per cent to $511 million from the same time last year. Revenue figures were not too shabby either, showing 174 per cent growth, meaning that profit growth outstripped revenue growth, something that is particularly desirable on any balance sheet.

Analysts had expected good figures from HTC, which has become the poster child for Android with its range of Desire smartphones. However they didn't expect it to do this well. HTC's performance is in stark contrast to Nokia's, which it surpassed in terms of market capitalisation just before it released these financial results.

While Nokia has been fumbling around with questionable smartphone designs and the dilapidated Symbian operating system, HTC decided to cosy up to Google's Android, and now the Taiwanese phone maker is arguably the biggest rival to Apple in the smartphone market.

What is bound to raise even more eyebrows is the fact that the 174 per cent revenue growth for the three months ending in March was dragged down by relatively shabby growth of just 124 per cent in March. For January and February 2011, HTC saw around 212 per cent revenue growth from the same time last year. With figures like that it's not surprise that Microsoft was so keen to get HTC to produce three handsets running its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system.

HTC's bumper financial results are good news for the firm's rivals too, as it shows growing demand for smartphones. The only cause for concern is that HTC has yet to release a tablet, and while the company demonstrated its Flyer tablet at Mobile World Congress, details are still scant on when the device will turn up in the shops.

In 2011 HTC won't have the advantage of being one of the first handset manufacturers to embrace Android. In a crowded marketplace it will have to work harder than ever if it wants to continue to see such impressive growth.

For Nokia, HTC's financial growth should serve as a case study of what can be achieved by running Android, an operating system that it said didn't offer enough opportunity to stand out from the crowd. Nokia would like to think that a good percentage of HTC's revenue came from the WP7 devices it launched at the tail end of 2010, but that's probably not the case.

If it isn't, then Nokia surely ought to appreciate what an uphill task it faces to recapture its leading position in the world's phone marketplace, given HTC's amazing recent revenue and profits growth. µ