According to a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times, HTC will launch six new smartphones in the Q4 which will boost sales to 8.5 million, a record quarter.
The devices will be launched in the U.S. and Europe.
Citing sources within the industry, the report implied that HTC will be launching the HTC Vision in Europe later in the year (possibly October), an Android device that runs on dual 1.2GHz processors.
Additionally, the company will be launching its first Windows Phone 7 smartphone, codename “Mondrain.”
Mondrain is expected to have a 1.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Current high-end phones have 1GHz processors.
For T-Mobile in the U.S., two mid-end phones, the “Vanguard” and “Emerald” are expected in November.
Result for: boost sales
According to Sony, the company has sold over 60,000 slim PS3s in Australia since launch date on September 3rd, good enough to ‘outperform’ rival consoles in the region.
Sony also said they would be starting a new promotion of offering a free slim console with Sony Bravia LCD HDTVs as a way to boost sales.
“I can confirm that in excess of 60,000 units of the PS3 120GB have been sold since launch,” said Sony. “I can also confirm that since the launch of the new model on September 3, total sales for the period since introduction have outperformed our competition.”
The PSPgo is not selling as well in the region, with early reports citing only 1000 sales in the first week of availability.
Result for: boost sales
Just one day after Amazon dropped the price of the popular Palm Pre smartphone to $100 USD, Wal-Mart has begun selling the phone for $80 USD with two-year contract with exclusive carrier Sprint.
The phone has a 3.1-inch touchscreen with 480×320 resolution and a slider design which hides a full QWERTY keyboard. More notably, the phone uses Palm’s own WebOS Linux-based operating system, which offers multitasking for applications and “Synergy” for contacts integration.
$80 is the cheapest the phone has ever sold for, and will likely help boost sales headed into the holiday season.
