HTC evolves
Smartphone specialist HTC has been very much in the right place at the right time, with respect to the mobile device revolution. Yes, the terms have been largely dictated by Apple but HTC is arguably the other phone OEM to have best exploited the opportunity - as indicated by it overtaking Nokia in market cap recently.
But HTC remains much smaller than, for example, Nokia. The most recent estimate of Nokia's total headcount puts it at around 55,000, although that's set to fall. HTC's 2010 annual report put its headcount at around 13,000. That's almost as much as Nokia employs to develop software alone - and haven't they done well?
So it's no great surprise to see HTC expanding, and the good think for the UK's beleaguered economy is that it has chosen the UK as its EMEA hub. Today it opened a new and improved EMEA HQ in Slough- which was previously the UK HQ of mobile operator O2 - and even had a ceremony that was attended by CEO Peter Chou and MP Ed Vaizey.
"HTC is on a hugely exciting journey, from humble beginnings to a global brand," said Chou. "HTC is growing on all fronts in 2011; we're attracting new, exciting talent to the senior management team and increasing our commitment to local markets through investment in people and partnerships."
Florian Seiche, president of HTC EMEA, said: "Slough is the ideal base from which to operate in Europe and run our UK business, which we have seen go from strength to strength. It offers great transport links with easy access to London and the major travel hubs for the rest of Europe."
HTC has chosen to coincide this occasion with the European launch of the EVO 3D, which was announced in the US back in March. As the name implies, this is HTC's first handset with a glasses-free 3D display - positioning it in direct competition with the LG Optimus 3D. It also records 3D video at 720p.
Other than that the spec doesn't look a million miles away from the recently-launched Sensation, including the dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8260. Here are some specs and piccies, the HTC EVO 3D will be available across Europe from next month.
