Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has revealed that it is shutting down HTCSense.com, the handset firm’s portal that enables users to sync their contacts, messages, footprints and call history. The firm has given users until April 30 to download their data, before it is deleted and no longer accessible.

“In response to customer feedback HTC is improving our services to provide a more enhanced customer experience. As part of that effort, on March 19 2012, HTC will be removing some HTCSense.com services including the backup and restore and phone location services,” the company said in a statement.

“Customer data will continue to be available for download for 30 days to ensure customers do not lose any important information.”

HTC’s move indicates that partnerships with firms such as DropBox will be the future strategy for handset manufacturers, according to Ben Wood, analyst at CCS Insight. He believes that HTC is likely reconsidering why it would aim to create new services and content when there are successful services already on the market.

“It makes sense for HTC because it has always been exceptionally strong with regards to making great, really appealing hardware and at the end of last year, it had a tough time with disappointing Q4 results,” said Wood.

“Rather than create its own services, such as music, HTC is probably thinking there are great services out there that it could partner with, such as Spotify, and put out a great product without a lot of software engineering resources tied up on doing a bespoke service.”