WITH a brand known for its high-end corporate smartphones, Taiwanese device manufacturer HTC is setting to introduce cheaper mobile phones for the entry-level consumer market in the Philippines.
While the company did not announce which specific models will be available in the country, HTC Philippines Country Manager Mark Sergio said prices of the newer models will hover somewhere around P15,000.
In comparison, many HTC phones have price tags starting at P30,000 pesos all the way up to P50,000.
The units would also have some watered down features. But Sergio said the consumer phones will still include functionality that are familiar to their high-end brethren, which include touch screen capabilities.
Some of the consumer-level units will also have QWERTY keyboards, as well as 3G capabilities.
Sergio also said that an HTC phone using Google’s Android mobile phone operating system will be available in the Philippines.
Currently, the cheapest HTC model in the Philippines is the Touch Viva, which costs P21,990 pesos. It is also one of its highest selling models in its latest Touch series.
“This showed us that there’s a market for cheap, touch screen phones. The new phones will be aimed at different user types but the important part is that the phones will deliver great user experience,” Sergio said.
Sergio stressed that despite the economic crisis the company has seen good sales in the past few months. He attributed these to corporate customers looking to provide multi-function devices to executives.
The company plans to introduce the phone during the second half of the year. Sergio promised that the new consumer phones will be “priced competitively” with other smartphones.
To whet the appetite of users, Sergio showed the new HTC Touch Cruise targeted at the constant traveler.It uses Windows Mobile 6.0 just like all of the other Touch models, except for the new “Footprints” application, which allows users to take photos and update these on the installed Google Maps software.
The Touch Cruise connects to the Internet via 3G and Wifi. It also comes with a global positinging system (GPS) feature. It is priced at P32,900.
7 Feedbacks on "More smartphones coming to RP"
Mau Dim Jr
Man, I’ve been waiting for HTC Dream for ages!! And now HTC Magic already ships at Spain and not even a shadow of the old HTC Dream. Guess we’ll just have to dream on until HTC Android phones arrives at Philippine shores.
Ricci S.
Hello everyone, from Saudi with love
Smartphones like HTC, Imate, Glofish, Blackberry, Iphone, and many others seem to absorb the Phil. market.The funny (or minsan nakakainis) thing is, these are so expensive and you will wonder how will you buy it and what for?so many options and accessories are there but you cannot use it all the time.Fellow kabayans here buy these things and in the end they do not send any money to their families.
Sometimes we are not contented on what we have - and splurge on these things that are not necessary, another thing, if this was broken - is hard to fix and it will cost a lot.
John
just like to share.. i just stumbled upon this morning, http://www.CgeNa.com you can find here the latest gadget prices in the Philippines.
rheema
what does HTC stands for? …. if i’m not gonna google it.. i won’t know that it’s an expensive brand…. it doesn’t sound like high end to me… even at the mall it doesn’t look that good
Larry Luna
Gentlemen,
Maybe by this time, the 1st touch screen mobile by the Nokia is now available in the Philippine market, which is Music Express 5800 model. Mostly of the feature you need is likely available on that model. Aside from its best sound (stereo sound) music can be downloaded with MP3 and it has a 8GB memory card and its extendable. Qwerty features with handwriting enable can be sent thru SMS.It is 3G enable, internet, GPS enable, 3.2 megapixel. This mobile phone is original made in FINLAND, not made in China. You must be aware of Made in China which mostly visible in the Philippine market of Nokia phones. Anyway here in the middle east, is the 1st region to have the new models of all mobile phones. Now there is new model coming soon from Nokia, which is N97. Superceeded by this 5800..
Ciao.
Ken
Nice phones, but the price is awfully high for me. Hope they come up with more pocket-friendly models soon. Cheap is now in, if you want more sales in this crisis age.
Joseph
I have a HTC Touch Diamond. Im using it for almost a year now. Just for one used month, the speaker suddenly experience a harsh sounds. Ive try to ask HTC shops at singapore, balikpapan and jakarta but they cant fix it. Hope they could improve the durability of the speaker and have a good service outlet.
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