HTC Chief Executive Admits Miscues, Promises Change in 2013

[cereal killer]

In 2010 and early 2011 HTC was a force to be reckoned with because of their stellar Android handset line-up and they enjoyed life at the top. Flash forward to '12 and things were not looking so rosy for the Taiwanese company. Shares of HTC have plummeted to a six-year low, down 80% from the 2010 peak and they find themselves struggling to remain relevant in the Android handset space, but if anyone has been paying attention they are fighting back. With the introduction of the HTC Droid DNA in 2012 it was quite obvious that they meant business and have been paying attention. According to Peter Chou the worst time is over and the company is looking to a brighter 2013:

“The worst for HTC has probably passed. 2013 will not be too bad. Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing. We haven’t done enough on the marketing front. Although we don’t have as much money to counter [Samsung and Apple], the most important thing is to have unique products that appeal to consumers.”

With the exception of the Droid DNA, HTC has not unveiled any new handsets, but they are expected to unleash their new lineup at either CES or MWC this year. They are not merely focusing on product line-up to blast them into the forefront, they are also focusing on China, which is the single biggest phone market in the world. In Q3, HTC sold 2.8 million smartphones in China. That is more than Apple sold iPhones there. All of this is futile though without proper marketing and they have that covered as well. Chou said "one thing I'd learned from last year is to act fast and be responsive to market changes. We are being more flexible now. We are constantly fine-tuning our sales plans and position in various markets."

It certainly appears HTC has all their bases covered and if all goes as planned 2013 should be a great year for them.

Source: WSJ

 

[jntdroid]

The One lineup really were/are great devices - I think they suffered from poor marketing more than anything. Hopefully the DNA helps revitalize them, but I don't think it'll help much b/c it's so exclusive. Honestly, Samsung has opened up the general public's mind to non-Apple products in a bigger way than any other mobile device OEM. If HTC plays their cards right, they could take advantage of what Samsung has done from a marketing standpoint, and get their devices into the public's brain space.

 

[RyanPm40]

Have they fixed their crappy batteries yet? I don't get how after years of people complaining and their business doing worse and worse, they wouldn't fix the one major thing every customer complains about. HTC phones always have terrible battery life.

 

[SquireSCA]

Battery life is good, but the DNA is plagued with Wifi reception and connection issues. VZW said that HTC knows about the problem, but has no ETA on the fix yet. My GF had two DNA's with this problem and had to swap it out for a Razr HD to get reliable Wifi connectivity.

 

[trestevenson]

It's nice to see the CEO acknowledging his company's shortcomings, and that he at least has a plan to do better this year. Maybe HTC will be able to mount a comeback after all!

 

[jspradling7]

Battery life is good, but the DNA is plagued with Wifi reception and connection issues.

It's amazing how long batteries last when the phone isn't connected to anything! I couldn't resist, I was poking fun at HTC not you.

 

[mountainbikermark]

The story I read late last year about the "M7", as its now known, really peaked my interest IF part of the phones specs turn out to be better battery life than my Rezound and Inc1.
In late 11 and most of last year the only marketing I saw for anything HTC was Beats oriented. Promoting a monster specd device for its music player didn't work then, won't work this year either.

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[Psykho]

Battery life is good, but the DNA is plagued with Wifi reception and connection issues. VZW said that HTC knows about the problem, but has no ETA on the fix yet. My GF had two DNA's with this problem and had to swap it out for a Razr HD to get reliable Wifi connectivity.

Both my wife and I have DNAs and no connection issues it actually the best reception of any phone we've had. Ive never lost wi-fi and have 4g pretty much everywhere I go and as far as battery I've been going 17 hrs a day with usually around 15 percent left and thats with 4g 12 of those hours and screen brightness on full...

 

[pc747]

Have they fixed their crappy batteries yet? I don't get how after years of people complaining and their business doing worse and worse, they wouldn't fix the one major thing every customer complains about. HTC phones always have terrible battery life.

They really need to step up with their batteries. With motorola and Samsung going 2700+ batteries they should start putting bigger batteries in their phone. Motorola has shown that you can add a large battery and still be slim. If the DNA had at least a 3000 mah battery it would have sold more. Because in this age people have figured out lte kills a battery and with motorola putting out phones that will go the day on a single charge people are showing they would rather have all day battery life over a nicer screen.

Battery life is good, but the DNA is plagued with Wifi reception and connection issues. VZW said that HTC knows about the problem, but has no ETA on the fix yet. My GF had two DNA's with this problem and had to swap it out for a Razr HD to get reliable Wifi connectivity.

HTC is normally known for having one of the better radios. May be look at doing an exchange as you could have a lemon.

 

[shockracer]

Seems to me the reason HTC has a hard time selling isn't just because of marketing but allowing companies like VZW walk over them and completely laydown to what ever the company wants, IMO.

With the DNA there was far more complaints about memory then battery turning people away.

 

[cybertec69]

Both my wife and I have DNAs and no connection issues it actually the best reception of any phone we've had. Ive never lost wi-fi and have 4g pretty much everywhere I go and as far as battery I've been going 17 hrs a day with usually around 15 percent left and thats with 4g 12 of those hours and screen brightness on full...

The problem with any phone battery, the more you drain it and recharge it, it just gets weaker over time, it's just the nature of MHA batteries, so if you are planning to keep the phone for close to two years you will see a significant drop in battery power, now this is on of the reasons I stay AWAY from phones with build in batteries, the other is not beign able to swap it out for a fresh one when running low on the go, especially for people who are not around an outlet all day long.

 

[Psykho]

The problem with any phone battery, the more you drain it and recharge it, it just gets weaker over time, it's just the nature of MHA batteries, so if you are planning to keep the phone for close to two years you will see a significant drop in battery power, now this is on of the reasons I stay AWAY from phones with build in batteries, the other is not beign able to swap it out for a fresh one when running low on the go, especially for people who are not around an outlet all day long.

Understood but for someone in my situation I have car and wall chargers with me at all times and access to power so I'm not worried if it last 2 or 20 hours.

 

[SquireSCA]

Both my wife and I have DNAs and no connection issues it actually the best reception of any phone we've had. Ive never lost wi-fi and have 4g pretty much everywhere I go and as far as battery I've been going 17 hrs a day with usually around 15 percent left and thats with 4g 12 of those hours and screen brightness on full...

And?

Just because a phone has known issues, doesn't mean that everyone that owns it has the issue. No phone has 100% of them with issues.

We got two, that did. A quick google search shows many threads on many forums of people with the same issue. HTC acknowledges the problem.

 

[drtnsnw]

I will probably never own another HTC (After 3 in a row) because of the horrendous battery and they never can get the updates out in anything close to a timely manner. My one year old Rezound will never see Jelly Bean. It only took a year after it was released to get ICS. It is crazy

Chris