HTC sees big potential here

       HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones, is gearing up to capitalise on the fast-growing smartphone handset market in Thailand, a market worth an estimated 8 billion baht this year.
       Nattawat Woranopakul, country manager of HTC Thailand, said the local smartphone market had become highly competitive with lower prices now that the four major international brands Nokia, HTC, iPhone and BlackBerry were moving aggressively to promote their products.
       While local mobile handset sales overall have been forecast to contract by 25-30% this year, Mr Nattawat said the touch-screen smartphone market was expected to grow 30%.
       Sales of smartphone handsets are expected to reach 400,000 this year, up from 300,000 last year. The average smartphone price is around 20,000 baht a unit.
       In contrast, he said, demand for con-ventional voice-based mobile phones was expected to plunge significantly with international brands losing ground to generally cheaper house-brand units that offered features such as slots for two SIM cards and mobile television.
       Mr Nattawat said the surge in smartphones reflected increasing demand for data communications and growing popularity among young people.
       Nokia is the market leader in the smartphone segment in Thailand with a 39% share, followed by HTC with 37%and iPhone and BlackBerry, he said."Thailand is our second largest marketplace in Southeast Asia, behind only Singapore."
       HTC yesterday introduced its new HTC Hero smartphone priced at 22,900 baht.
       It runs on Google's Android software with customised content profiles and the HTC Sense application system. Other features include GPS and contextual search through Twitter,3.2-inch display,5-megapixel camera and a 2GB micro SD card.