HTC Q1 Earnings: Rockin'

With the way smartphones are selling these days, it's a little surreal to see certain companies (Cough Palm cough) posting losses. HTC, on the other hand, is raking it in just like they should be:

With the posting of the Taiwan-based company's 1Q 2008 financial earnings report, we see that HTC earned NT$32.7 billion (US$1.08 billion) in revenue for the first quarter of 2008. That's a 38.6% year-on-year increase, but a 16.2% decrease from the previous quarter. - [IntoMobile]

While revenues dropped a smidge compared to the previous quarter (that's a holiday quarter too, so no worries there), their profits increased by 24% -- cutting some operating expenses seems to have helped them there, as have the stellar sales of the Touch. HTC also expects, what with WinMo 6.1 and Android coming this year, to move up to #3 worldwide behind Nokia and RIM.

...In other words, it's truly time for HTC to quit pretending they're an underdog. Seriously, guys, you're a powerhouse, feel free to flex some muscle and get carriers to let you sell your devices with less of their crap onboard. The TYTN II ROMs are a lot better than what ships on the Tilt, for example.