HTC One release has been delayed, company's fortunes rest in the balance

We all know the old saying; “it doesn’t rain, it pours.” That must be just how HTC chairman Peter Chou feels right now. Not only is his mobile company struggling to hit sales targets (with the company’s sales down 44% year-on-year over February), but now he has to contend with his latest flagship device, the HTC One, facing delays.

The handset, due out this Friday, will now not reach customers hands until 29th March, according to a blog post from gadget retailer Clove.

HTC have since issued the following statement:

“We will start fulfilling pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April.”

Though the delay is a fairly minor one, the timing couldn’t be any worse – not only do HTC need the HTC One to sell lots, and fast, in order to turn around their flailing fortunes, but they also need to beat Samsung to the punch, who are set to reveal their eagerly anticipated Galaxy S4 handset tomorrow.

Depending on what’s revealed tomorrow, it’s totally possible that Samsung could reveal and launch the rival Android handset before HTC’s flagship – revealed last month – even makes it’s way to stores. That’d be disastrous, given Samsung’s stranglehold and consumer loyalty in the Android market already. For HTC’s sake, lets hope the S4 launches with enough space between it and the HTC One to have some breathing room. We’d hate to see HTC really suffer, as the HTC One looks to be a great phone, as have all the company’s recent devices.