HTC to offer discounts for Black Friday in U.S.

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp. will offer discounts for Black Friday in the United States to try to take advantage of the big sales extravaganza on the day after Thanksgiving, the company said.

In a statement, HTC said it will be marking down its virtual reality (VR) products from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 when American shoppers are looking for deals.

HTC entered the virtual reality market with the Vive headset in 2015 to reduce its dependence on the fiercely competitive smartphone market and it is hoping to give the business a boost as its smartphone business continues to decline.

The Vive Cosmos headset will carry a price tag of US$599, down US$100 from its regular price, and a US$300 price reduction will be offered on the Vive Pro Starter Kit and the Vive Pro Full Kit.

The Vive Pro is an upgrade of HTC's first VR headset. With the eye-tracking hardware, the Vive Pro can be controlled using gaze-based interaction.

The Vive Cosmos runs a new platform called the "Vive Reality System," which uses hand controllers that do not require external sensors placed around the room.

After the Black Friday promotion, HTC said, it will initiate other promotional campaigns in the U.S. market until the end of the year, while in Taiwan, discounts for its products will be announced in December.

HTC is hoping the moves will kick-start sales, which have been hurt by an ongoing slump in its smartphone business.

The company posted consolidated sales of NT$660 million (US$21.64 million) in October, down 48 percent from a month earlier and also down 49 percent from a year earlier.

In the first 10 months of this year, HTC had consolidated sales of NT$8.86 billion, down 57 percent from a year earlier, an indication that its VR business is a long way from offsetting its losses on smartphones.

HTC reported a loss in the third quarter for the 16th time in 17 quarters. In the first three quarters of 2019, HTC posted a loss per share of NT$8.55.