The HTC One has been incredibly well received since it launched last month, but the handset was just too late to have a positive impact on HTC’s profits during the first quarter. The Taiwanese company made just $2.8 million in profit during the three-month period, which is a 98% drop from the $152 million it saw a year ago.

That’s the company’s lowest quarterly profit since 2004. Revenue also nosedived to $1.45 billion from $2.3 billion a year ago, but HTC expects this to jump during the second quarter now that the HTC One is available. The company did not reveal how many handsets had been sold so far, but it sounded positive.

“Last year we thought we needed to inject some new excitement in HTC’s products, and there was an opportunity for us… because everybody looks the same,” HTC CEO Peter Chou said on the call today. “I think that we have successfully launched the HTC One. We believe people are really getting our concept.

“Our goal is really to develop the HTC brand as a trustable, premier and excellent smartphone brand. That kind of brand awareness and preference is so important to us, as different suppliers are coming from everywhere and there’s no differentiation,” he added said, referring to all the other Android smartphones flooding the market.

According to analysts, 750,000 HTC One units may have been sold in April, and 3.5 million are expected to ship during the second quarter. As many as 10 million units are expected to be sold before the end of the year.

That’s not bad for an HTC device, but it’s still a relatively small figure when you compare it to the 60 million sales expected for the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Chou said that the supply issues that marred the HTC One’s launch have no improved, and that the company will be supplying many more devices throughout May to meet the “good demand.”

• SourceCNET