HTC discontinues sales of tablets in the US

Much like it did with the MP3 player market, Apple breathed new life into the tablet space in 2010 and has dominated it ever since. Despite numerous attempts from the competition, the iPad has remained the best selling slate for the past two years.

But it’s not just that Apple is selling more tablets than other companies — it’s knocking them out of the marketplace. Last year, HP pulled its TouchPad due to lack of sales. And today, HTC announced it’s pulling its tablets from the United States…

FierceWireless reports:

“HTC has discontinued sales of tablets in the United States. However, a company executive said the Taiwanese handset maker could re-enter the space if it builds a tablet that could “make a splash…”

…It was a great learning experience for us, and they definitely met expectations,” Gordon said of the tablets. However, he acknowledged that Apple’s iPad continues to dominate the tablet market and he said that HTC would only consider returning to the tablet space if it developed a product that could make inroads against the iPad and other tablets.

Gordon said it’s unclear what strategy HTC might take in a possible return to tablets.”

Over the past two years, HTC has sold three tablets here in the US. The Flyer, which was Wi-Fi only, for $299, the Evo View 4G WiMAX, and the LTE-capable Jetstream for $699. Needless to say, sales on these devices were fairly disappointing.

To be fair though, Apple is killing it on the tablet front. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster recently surveyed 8,000 teens and found that 72% of those that owned tablets, owned an iPad. And 74% of those that don’t have one yet, plan on getting one.

But HTC’s woes don’t stop at tablets. The company, which once dominated the smartphone industry, has posted consecutive negative quarters this year— the last one down 57% — due to increasing competition from Apple and Samsung.

Is anyone surprised that HTC is pulling its tablets from the US market?