HTC shutters Seoul offices after poor South Korean sales
updated 04:26 pm EDT, Mon July 30, 2012
Office closure follows Brazilian market withdrawl
HTC has closed its offices in Seoul following lackluster handset sales in South Korea. The Taiwanese phone manufacturer claims the efforts are to "streamline operations" and to focus on selling its One range of handsets to customers in markets where HTC is more popular. It is not known how many employees will lose their jobs at the offices, although reports suggest HTC is encouraging affected employees to apply for other in-house vacancies.
The handset market in South Korea is dominated by home-based electronics manufacturers, and difficult for foreign companies to grow within. Vendors such as Samsung, LG, and Pantech take up 90 percent of the market, with HTC accounting for just one percent in the first quarter of this year.
HTC in June announced plans to pull out of the Brazilian market, leaving a skeleton team in the country to support devices, after attaining 0.11 percent of the local handset market. A research office in North Carolina, HTC's third research and development office in the US, closed in the same month and displaced 50 workers. [via ZDNet]
