Windows Phone Thoughts: HTC Posts Lower February Sales

"High Tech Computer Corp. today announced its total revenues for February 2007 were NT$ 6,599 million, a decrease of 15.58% YoY, while total revenues from January to February 2007 were NT$ 15,005 million, a decrease of 3.36% YoY. The reasons for February 2007 lower revenues were lower sales momentum in the US region, low market visibility and decreased work hours in February (Chinese New Year)."

This doesn't sound very good. While they tried to put a positive spin on it - 1Q07 revenue is expected to match last year's - these numbers to me are a bit of a warning signal. Early last year, HTC was still very much an ODM where sales depended on somebody else's marketing success (or lack thereof). This year they're far more on their own, and the lack of revenue growth is troublesome (hey, CNY was celebrated last year too). Why? If they were really putting in an effort building their own distribution and retail networks, I would've expected revenue growth but with decreasing profits. Maybe I'm reading too much into a couple of months figures, but the transformation of HTC from device-maker to consumer-brand may turn out to be a much harder slog than anybody expected.