HTC doubles earnings, promises tablet PCs

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has doubled its earnings figures during the final quarter of 2010 and promised to start delivering its own range of tablet PCs.

A much advanced brand profile and the popularity of devices like the Desire smartphone helped HTC to boost its net profits by a whopping 160 per cent year-on-year during the final three months of last year.

The company has been able to take advantage of the growing prevalence of Android operated devices and managed to increase its profits by just over 30 per cent from the third quarter of 2010 to the fourth.

Despite the remarkable success the company has seen over the past year or so, its bosses are keen to downplay their entry into the tablet sector, which took off in a major way last year as well.

Chief executive of HTC, Peter Chou, said in reference to tablet PCs: “It’s a new market with many competitors and we don’t want to rush into it.”

“We hope the product we eventually unveil will be one that meets consumers’ needs,” he added.

In all likelihood, HTC will be looking to build on the successful combination of its handsets and Google’s Android OS, as Motorola and several other manufacturers are also hoping to do over the course of this year.

Meanwhile, Research In Motion is lining up its much-hyped BlackBerry Playbook tablet and Apple is strongly rumoured to be developing a second iteration of its ground-breaking iPad device.

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