Lack of local manufacturing killed HTC in Brazil?

HTC announced that it is pulling out of the Brazil market. On the service it feels like a strange move given that Brazil is one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone markets.

The reasons they give are a desire to focus more on China and India, and to focus more on the mid-to-high end market. Both of these answers make sense, especially if HTC wants to focus on the mid-to-high end. That part of the market isn’t the most exciting in Brazil, where the rapidly emerging lower ends of the market seem to have the most potential for continued growth.

Another part of the story tipped me off why HTC may be pulling out: ” HTC doesn’t have any manufacturing plants there…”

Yup, there you go… no manufacturing in Brazil. So if HTC is importing handsets they are getting killed by taxes and probably not able to sell at a competitive price.

Brazil is a super-tough market to compete if you don’t have local manufacturing, especially in tech.