HTC releases its G1 sales forecasts

HTC is finally going public with the number of G1 phones it expects to sell by the end of the year—600,000 is the figure it is offering up.  Sales projections are a tricky game for device manufacturers. It’s an opportunity for companies like Apple and HTC to boast about how well they plan their products to perform, but it’s also a chance to appear surprised later when they outperform their own forecasts.

Apple recently surpassed its long-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. By year’s end, the number could be closer than 15 million, in which case financial analysts would likely heap praise on the company.

Is HTC setting itself up for a similar power punch? Leading up to CEO Peter Chou’s interview with the Mercury News where he first mentioned the 600,000 number, pre-sales estimates were all over the map from 70,000 to 1.5 million (although the latter was rightfully slammed for using tortured math). We called HTC for more elaboration on the 600,000 figure and will update this post when we hear back from them.

After spending more than $10 million and almost three years in development, HTC launched the first Google-branded phone with T-Mobile earlier this week. Leading up to its launch, HTC had a team of employees camped out at Google headquarters for almost a year, Chou said. “Of course we are not de-prioritizing Windows Mobile by any means. However, with Android we can do more.” He wouldn’t dive into 2009 predictions, but said HTC is confident it can carve out its niche in a market that includes the likes of Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion. Apple has driven a lot of hype around the potential of smartphones, and HTC benefits from that as well, he said. But how can it steal potential iPhone buyers? “HTC products are very pragmatic and productive. We have spent a tremendous effort to make our product better… It may not be as sexy as others. But it’s very nice, very mature and a very good experience.” HTC also believes it can drive interest around the G1 because of its keyboard. Chou: “Americans are very keyboard-oriented.”

via mocoNews