HTC shares jump after settles patent issues with Apple
of the settlement or the licensing agreement, but HTC said the agreement will not impact its financials and it will not change its fourth-quarter guidance.
HTC said last month it expected its fourth-quarter revenue to be about T$60 billion ($2.05 billion), down from T$70.2 billion in the third quarter and below expectations of T$74.0 billion in a poll of 23 analysts by Reuters.
It expected a gross margin and an operating margin of around 23 percent and 1 percent, respectively, falling from 25 percent and 7 percent in the previous quarter. The company said the operating margin would be hit by higher spending on marketing.
Analysts' forecasts on how much HTC needs to pay Apple range from not a very high price to as much as over $10 per phone, though they remain best guesses, based partly on the assumed $10 royalty that phone makers pay Microsoft per Windows 7 phone, and on the $5-6 dollar that Android phone makers are believed to pay Microsoft after a separate lawsuit last year.
However, some analysts warn that HTC's other challenges outweigh the settlement. Its phones have lost a lot of their appeal among consumers as Apple's iPhones and Samsung's Galaxy series dominate shopping lists, drawing parallels with the decline of Finland's Nokia , once one of the dominant mobile phone players.
Nokia settled with Apple in 2011 by winning royalties from Apple, but it did not change the landscape at all for smartphone competition. Samsung continued to win market
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