The HTC First
HTC’s troubles continue with the news that plans to bring the vaunted Facebook Phone, the HTC First, to the UK have been scrapped. Pre-orders accepted by 4G carrier Everything Everywhere (EE) have been cancelled.
According to Engadget, preorders were cancelled after poor sales reports from the US proved less than encouraging.
A&T is understood to have slashed the cost of the HTC First device, launched alongside Facebook Home more than a month ago, from US$99.99 to just US$0.99 on contract.
In early April, EE announced it would be the exclusive UK carrier to sell the HTC First with access to 4G speeds five times faster than 3G speeds.
The news comes amid an extremely rocky spell for HTC. Delays in the launch of its flagship device, the HTC One, have hit the company hard, resulting in just a US$2.8m profit from Q1.
In addition, the company has been rocked in recent days by the news that its Asia CEO Lennard Hornik is departing the company.
But all is not lost.
Informed sources say the HTC One Mini, a lower-cost version of the HTC One with a 4.2-inch screen and 720p resolution, is rumoured to be arriving in Europe in about a month’s time, which may well make up for the lack of any HTC First device.
