HTC has informed suppliers of its intentions to manufacture 60 million mobile handsets in 2011. The information comes courtesy of anonymous sources with access to an executive summit HTC recently held in Taipei, where 200 executives from over 100 companies attended, according to DigiTimes. The number specifically says handsets, but HTC also has yet-to-be-released tablet devices under its sleeve.
In 2010, HTC shipped 20 million mobile units to its sales channels. This means the 60 million units figure is a 200 percent increase, or triple to the number for the previous year. The mobile industry may be growing at a rapid rate, but HTC clearly thinks it is going to be ahead of the curve. Talk about ambitious!
This is good news for both Google, since HTC is one of the biggest hardware manufacturers of Android phones, and Microsoft, because HTC was the number one maker of Windows Mobile smartphones and is certainly pushing forward with its Windows Phone 7 devices. At one point, the company clearly shifted focus away from Windows Mobile and towards Android. We'll see how that focus holds next year with Windows Phone starting to gain a little traction.