HTC's Shift and GPS-enabled Touch Cruise to be showcased at GITEX Saudi Arabia 2008

GITEX Saudi Arabia 2008 has been organised in cooperation with Dubai World Trade Centre as part of GITEX, the Gulf's largest technology exhibition.

HTC is strengthening its position in the rapidly expanding Saudi mobile phone market as the country is expected to achieve a penetration growth of 130 per cent over the next five years. The robust growth, particularly in the smart phone segment, will be significantly affected by the sustained development of the industry's computer and IT applications sector, which accounts for 40 per cent of an estimated AED 18 billion Gulf market. The liberalisation of Saudi's telecommunications sector is also expected to further boost demand for IT-intensive mobile phone units and services.

Kevin Chen, General Manager, HTC Middle East, Africa and CIS, said: "KSA is presently one of our most important markets for smart phones and personal digital assistants because of its excellent growth potential. GITEX Saudi Arabia 2008 provides the perfect platform for us to increase awareness about the technological superiority of our products, which have already established a strong presence in the Saudi market."

"Our aggressive marketing initiatives in Saudi have also been fuelled by the country's rapidly increasing population, powerful economy and dramatic increase in adoption of internet and other IT-enabled technologies; which all represent immense growth opportunities for HTC. Moreover, we will back up our quality products with our excellent after-sales support; a service for which we are already building up a solid reputation for in this region," added Chen.

HTC expects its stylish and compact Touch Cruise product line - which features GPS with built-in car navigation solution from CoPilot Live 7 and the innovative TouchFlo touch-screen technology - to be one of the most popular products among the country's prevalently tech-savvy consumers. This navigation software also comes with a city map or the option of full maps of GCC countries.

HTC's Shift is another new entrant in the KSA market and brings the full power of Windows Vista and advanced wireless connectivity into an innovative and compact design to create a new paradigm for mobile computing. The HTC Shift, which has an innovative QWERTY-based keyboard design and 3G-connectivity, also comes with Windows Vista Business and includes a 7-inch widescreen touch display and a 40-gigabyte hard drive. It also features built in fingerprint sensor for increased security.

With the world's top IT market investors in attendance, GITEX Saudi Arabia 2008 provides invaluable market exposure for the latest cutting-edge software and hardware products and services. The event is also an excellent networking platform wherein participants are free to interact with leading representatives of the industry from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world, to discuss the exciting array of unparalleled investment opportunities.

HTC has developed cutting-edge technologies to produce innovative and feature-rich smart phones and PDA devices, such as the world's first colour palm-size PC, the first Microsoft Pocket PC, the first Microsoft-powered Smartphone, and the first Microsoft 3G phone. Business Week ranked HTC as one of the top two best performing technology companies in Asia in 2007 and previously ranked the company third in its global listing in 2006.