HTC Shares Fall As First Quarter Profit Tumbles 70%

Shares of smartphone maker HTC fell on the Taiwan Stock Exchange after the company reported a sharp plunge in its profit for the first quarter. Its shares dipped as much as 6.8% to 545 New Taiwan dollars. On Friday, the firm said net profit for the first three months of year fell 70% from a year earlier to NT$4.46bn ($151m; �95m). The numbers come as the firm faces increasing competition from rivals such as Samsung and Apple. HTC also reported a 35% drop in revenue for the period. Analysts said the weak results had raised concerns about the impact of the increasing competition on the firm's future growth. "They have been ambushed by very strong competition in a very short period of time," Andrew Milroy of Frost & Sullivan told the BBC. "They are in a the middle of a really fast-paced market and they haven't' responded quite as well to the competition."