HTC looking at new product line for Internet of Things

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Taiwan's HTC Corp. said Thursday that it plans to launch a new product line based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology later this year in a move to create its new growth driver in the cloud computing age.

Speaking at the company's annual shareholders' meeting, HTC CEO Peter Chou said cloud services are expected to create new value for HTC and help it diversify from being a pure hardware manufacturer.

The Taoyuan-based company has developed a lot of ability in software design, such as the HTC Sense user interface and the Zoe camera feature, and hopes that these abilities can improve HTC's competitiveness in cloud technology, Chou said.

"IoT is a crucial direction for us, and we have planned a complete strategic roadmap for this segment since last year," he noted. "We hope that a new product line will appear in the second half of this year and become a key direction for our future."

IoT is defined by industry observers as a world that links physical objects to virtual data and environments that interact with each other in real time and thus can lead to "smart" manufacturing.

In February, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang said in an interview with Bloomberg News that her company was set to unveil its first wearable device in time for this year's Christmas shopping season after years of development.

HTC, once the world's fourth-largest smartphone maker, forecast in early May that it will return to profitability in the second quarter after posting operating losses for three consecutive quarters.

HTC reported consolidated revenue of NT$203.4 billion (US$6.8 billion) in 2013, with an operating loss of NT3.97 billion, translating into losses per share of NT$1.6.

Shares in HTC had risen 1.5 percent to NT$135 as of 10 a.m. Thursday in Taipei.

(By Jeffrey Wu)ENDITEM/J