HTC flagship smartphone to begin rollout this week

Taiwan's HTC on Sunday announced its much-anticipated new flagship smartphone will go on sale in three countries this week, although the rollout elsewhere will only take place by the end of April. The announcement comes after the company reportedly delayed shipments of the HTC One due to parts shortages, dealing a blow as it looks to lift sales and compete with the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy. "The new HTC One will roll out in the UK, Germany and Taiwan next week and across Europe, North America and most of Asia-Pacific before the end of April," the company said in a statement. "We appreciate our customers' patience, and believe that once they have the phone in their hands they will agree that it has been worth the wait." The announcement comes after an unnamed executive told the Wall Street Journal last week that HTC had been grappling with supply chain problems as the company "has changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year's unexpected slump in shipments". The firm has 185 distributors globally. The Android-based HTC One was unveiled in London and New York last month sporting a 4.7-inch touchscreen and front-facing speakers. Company president Peter Chou hailed it as a "technological breakthrough" as he seeks to put up a fight against the hugely popular Apple iPhone and Samsung's newly released Galaxy S4. However it has a tough fight, with research firm firm IDC saying, HTC held a 4.6 percent share of the global smartphone market in 2012, a sharp decline from 8.8 percent a year earlier. Samsung held a 30.3 percent, while Apple had 19.1 percent.