http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/371464/htc-promises-better-handsets-in-2012

HTC has said its market situation isn't as "serious" as Nokia's, and promised to bring "better" handsets to market next year.

HTC's Desire, Sensation and Wildfire models have lost ground to Apple's iPhones and Samsung's Galaxy line-up, prompting calls for a change of tack in a fast-moving and fickle market.

In his first response to a battering from stock markets - HTC shares are down more than 30% over nine trading days - CFO Winston Yung told Reuters that HTC is not another Nokia.

"I don't think it's so serious," he said, noting that even the most conservative guidance is for shipments to increase to 45 million units this year, from 25 million last year.

    We will launch some worldwide flagship products. We're confident in them

"We will focus on the product next year, better and more competitive. Other than new LTE phones for the US market, we have phones for the global market. We will launch some worldwide flagship products. We're confident in them," said Yung.

But investors are concerned that HTC is not changing radically enough. "Its industrial design hasn't changed for almost two years," said Roxy Wong, analyst at Mirae Asset Management in Hong Kong. "Unless it launches a really different phone, it's hard to sell the product at a premium price."

"HTC lacks an edge in branding against Apple and Samsung," Wong added. "It has stronger hardware specs against Apple, but not Samsung. It takes time for a company to enhance branding, so the room left for HTC to improve sales is not much unless it starts cutting prices."

Apart from Research in Motion, HTC shares are the worst performers among smartphone peers this year, down 62% from a lifetime high in late-April, as sales growth has slowed and investors have been spooked by two profit warnings.

"Smartphone market growth is expected to slow down with each passing year, and HTC has to face a resurgent Motorola, Nokia and Sony," said Abhishek Chauhan, principal consultant at ICT Practice. "So they have a real risk of becoming another RIM or LG, if they don't refresh their product line-up quickly."

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