HTC Pulls Out Of U.S. Tablet Market

According to a Fierce Wireless report today, HTC is getting out of the U.S. tablet market. Apple dominates the U.S. tablet market, while Android manufacturers, such as HTC, have generally struggled to sell their tablet devices.  While HTC will sit out the tablet fight for now, a company spokesman said HTC may re-enter the U.S. tablet market if it can launch a device it feels will be a big success.

HTC Global Online Communications Manager Jeff Gordon said the tablets were “a great learning experience” for the company and they “definitely met expectations.” HTC didn’t attempt to carve out a niche in the U.S. tablet market, instead releasing devices as cheap as $299 and as expensive as $700.  Some Android tablet manufactures have succeeded by focusing on devices more compact than Apple’s iPad, but HTC went with a shotgun approach, releasing tablets with displays as small as 7″ and as large as 10″.

Between the iPad, Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fires, the U.S. tablet is already crowded. The rumored iPad Mini and Samsung 10-inch Nexus are just two of the many tablets that will only add to the competition.

The U.S. tablet market is currently dominated by Apple’s iPad which controls the majority of the market. Amazon also claims to have at least 22 percent of the tablet market with its Kindle Fire tablet. That percentage may have increased after the release of the Kindle Fire HD.

The Jetstream tablet was HTC’s  latest attempt at breaking into the U.S. tablet market. The HTC Jetstream was one of the first tablets on AT&T to support 4G LTE. Before the Jetstream, HTC had the WiMAX-enabled Evo View 4G on Sprint. The Flyer, a Wi-Fi only device, was the company’s first attempt at launching a tablet in the U.S.

Google and Asus also made a big splash when it introduced the $199 Nexus 7 at its Google I/O conference in June. Google hasn’t public released Nexus 7 sales numbers, but demand was great enough to sell out the first batch of Google’s tablet and create weeks-long wait lists.