HTC possibly halts all phone sales in Brazil

PanARMENIAN.Net - Reports indicate that HTC is canceling the planned launch of its One series in Brazil and ending all phone sales in the country, according to The Verge.

As it's exiting the Brazilian market, a number of HTC's employees will lose their jobs, although the company will maintain a presence in the country to offer support for current devices. The news was first broken by Brazilian magazine Exame. When called for confirmation, a HTC representative told AndroidPIT that "after analyzing the sales numbers, we have decided to pull out of the Brazilian market."

Brazil is becoming an increasingly important market for phone manufacturers, and its citizens bought 8.9 million smartphones last year. Analysts have predicted that Brazil will overtake the UK to become the world's fourth most important market for smartphone sales by 2016. HTC, however, has failed to gain traction in the country. According to StatCounter, which gives a rough guide of marketshare based on web analytics, HTC is behind Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Sony, LG, Motorola, RIM, and ZTE. The site indicates that its total marketshare in the first quarter of this year was 0.11 percent.