Four months after establishing a local office, Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC is promising to ramp up the marketing and distribution of its products in SA, with a focus on its new One-series range of devices.
Jon French, HTC’s vice-president for sales operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says a local country manager will be appointed soon. Ian Shaw had been named to the role but had to step down after three months due to ill health. Shaw will continue to advise the local HTC team.
The company has decided to have a dedicated sales team to serve the country’s two biggest mobile operators, MTN and Vodacom. Cell C, 8ta and other parties will continue to be served by HTC’s long-standing SA distributor, Leaf Wireless.
“We felt it was time to establish our own presence in SA,” says French. “It’s clear we have put a lot of effort into the One X, the One S and the One V and we are bringing all of those products to SA in the next few weeks.”
The flagship One X is already available through MTN and will go on sale through Vodacom channels “very soon”, French says. The One X and rival Samsung’s Galaxy S3 are seen by many as the world’s current flagship Android smartphones.
French says HTC will soon launch its “biggest-ever marketing campaign” in SA, focusing on the One X. He says the company has been “too segmented” in its market campaigns worldwide and so campaigns flighted internationally will also be flighted in markets like SA. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media
