HTC exits U.S. tablet market but could return later

HTCHTC has confirmed that it has stopped selling tablets in the U.S. Over two years, HTC offered three different tablets, the HTC Flyer, HTC EVO View 4G, and the HTC Jetstream. According to Jeff Gordon, HTC’s global online communications manager, “It was a great learning experience for us, and they definitely met expectations.” At the same time, he left the door open for an eventual return” “We’re watching that market [tablets] very, very closely.”

Gordon acknowledged that Apple dominates the tablet market and that HTC would only return if it could sell a tablet that would not only “make a splash” but also make inroads against Apple.

HTC does not yet have a strategy for a potential return. It could return with a lower-end tablet much as Google is now doing with the Google Nexus 7 or come back with a premium device with high-end specifications (and a price to match). “We’re very much not set on one strategy over another,” Gordon explained.

HTC is not the first company to exit the tablet space. Both LG and HP left it although the latter is dipping a toe back in with the recently announced HP ElitePad 900.

Read more: FierceWireless