Marketing Is To Blame For HTC’s Poor Performance In 2012

2012 was a pretty terrible year for HTC, with its profits plummeting dramatically. HTC’s CEO, Peter Chou, blames the company’s lackluster results on poor marketing.

He says that HTC’s competitors, most likely emphasizing Samsung, were “too strong and very resourceful, pouring lots of money into marketing”.

He states that he doesn’t have as many resources to counter his rivals’ publicity and instead relies on having unique products to carry him.

Chou believes that the worst for HTC has passed and that 2013 will “not be too bad”.

He, and HTC as a whole, believes that HTC’s cross-patent agreement with Apple will help it become more innovative. HTC will also refocus their marketing efforts to avoid the fiasco that was 2012.

But is marketing entirely to blame for HTC’s troubles? Many users are complaining that it wasn’t just marketing that resulted in HTC’s lack of profits.

They are saying that it’s HTC devices to blame. Their newer devices lack a microSD card slot as well as a non-removable battery, and Sense UI has morphed into something that users hate. I will have to agree that the lack of MicroSD card slot and a non-removable battery are huge deal breakers.

What are your thoughts? Do you believe that Peter Chou is right and that it is solely marketing to blame?

Phandroid

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Josh5310 5 pts

HTC HTC HTC.... I'm a huge fan of your devices but you need to go back to your sensation, Amaze days where it had a a beautiful Aluminum metal design instead of this poly-carbonate crap like on the One X and 8 X. Removable Rear Doors where you see your Micro SD slot and battery replacement. Sense being the customization skin that you would never let go! Focus on your stellar designs fantastic cameras and beats audio galore making it a beautiful high end phone for gamers photographers and musicians. Sense 5 Im a little scared of the release pics makes it look 2D no creativity just blah not even simple, Hopefully that isnt the new sense because 2013 is your make it or break it year. If you would go back to your old days i Would take one of your phones over an ugly plasticy Sammy Phone any day otherwise i'm forced. I Still say to this Day the The T mobile HTC Amaze 4G was the best phone in the hand and best design with high end quality feeling I've ever experienced over the Iphone any Android phone BB or WP phone just bliss! GO BACK TO THAT!!!!!!!

I think marketing and lack of micro sd card is the reason . HTC phones have a better feel and look . Samsung phones  look plastic cheap .

 

HTC should follow their current design philosophy but with a removable micro sd slot and make sense snappier, easier to theme .etc

 

Touchwiz has a cartoony unrefined colour scheme ( in my humble opinion) ..

 

Few features in Sense like widget and app addition on homescreeen is way better than even stock jelly bean

and looks better in totality .

 

 

 

 

I own a samsung galaxy tab 2 , HTC incredible s  , SG II  and a One x in the family .

 

 

 

HTC had a year of lackluster releases... thats why they did poorly! He is passing the buck to the marketing department who did the best with crappy phones. I used to love HTC. My G1 and G2 are still some of the best phones ever. But Sense sucks... and suddenly HTC stopped making high end devices. They made devices for people who just want a random phone. Sorry HTC, I love your design aesthetic... but if you don't put a great phone inside then I don't care. Switched to Samsung and I'm happy. But I still miss the days of badass HTC phones.

brianpuglisi 5 pts

@roundy The HTC DNA is the hottest phone out right now it is amazing. To me it trumps the galaxy s3 so marketing definitely had a lot to do with it. I use the DNA as well as the iPhone 5. And a iPad and nexus 7. I still love htc and the DNA is the best android phone I have used

JoshuaB 5 pts

I personally love HTC products, and Sense has never been an issue for me, and Sense 4 was awesome.

I have owned the following HTC devices; Diamond Touch, HD2 (in both Windows Mobile and Android), Inspire 4G, Desire HD (for her), Flyer Wifi, and OneX (international).  I have used custom ROMs from well recognized XDA Developers on all of my devices due to the very slow rate at which Australia Telecomms companies roll out software updates and their preference for including lots of unnecessary bloatware.

 

But with the death of my OneX (due to water damage that killed the screen controller) I moved across to a Samsung S3 because ... drum roll .... it had a microSD slot ... because wiping my documents off the HTC phone was a nightmare, if not for Nortons Mobile security being able to remotely wipe the phone (supposedly, cant view the screen or connect via pc to check).

 

Anyhow, one forgotten feature that I love on HTC products is USB hard disk mounting on PCs ... the HTC devices mounts with a drive letter (e.g. E: like a USB stick) and not as a media device ... this has a significant advantage for me as my phone is used as my always present USB Hard disk to synchronize My Documents and folders using file-comparison software.  This just can't be done with a media connecting devices such as my ex-Nexus generation 3. Fortunately I found a XDA developed program that enables this for my Samsung S3 to connect as a USB hard disk, but not as easily as the HTC devices natively do.

 

When, comparing the Samsung S3 to the HTC One X, I would score the One X as having a better screen "liquid clear", better headphone sound, better overnight battery life, and better control when playing my favourite mini-car game ... oh and wifi hotspot is easier to enable.

 

Where the S3 does win out was the easy of unlocking and the inclusion of a MicroSD slot.  

 

The removable battery ain't a major concern for me, it was a nicety by the lack of one on the One X turned out to be a non event.

 

Hence, would I go back to HTC at present ... NO ... unless the International Butterfly J / DNA is available in Australia via a recognized importer or local teleco.

 

What I want from HTC to get me back is a Desire HD / Inspire 4G type device ... i.e. with a Micro-SD slot, easy to unlock, and root because local telecos suck with their lack of speed of updates and their bloatware inclusions.

 

Without a Micro-SD slot, forget it.

 

Oh note to HTC ... I upgrade on a 8 months to 12 months basis, and my old phone gets passed on to other family members, so on and so forth who coincidently buy HTC products after that ... given that I am recognized as the resident techno in the family and among friends ... Hence if HTC is good enough for me then it is good enough for them to use and recommend.

 

P.S. I have also owned and passed on an Acer Iconia A500 wifi (10 inch), Toshiba Thrive wifi (7 inch), Asus Nexus 7 wifi ... now have a Samsumg Note 10.1 wifi ... plus Acer ultrabook, i7 desktop PC with Win 8 64 bit (Stardock Start 8 installed) raided SDD hard disks and 32 GB ram and multiple monitors.  

 

You would be correct in saying that  I am a real tech-head, but I have officially been a Technical Authority at work, so I have also be concerned with everyday non-tech-savy user-ability and consider Win8-tiles a nightmare for a business environment. ...

 

Hence, to me the lack of a Micro-SD is a big mistake and see its lack of inclusion as a covert way to enforce more data usage which is only in the telcos interest and not the end-users.

 

HTC get it in your head, no Micro-SD included then stuff you I will go Samsung and encourage others to do the same.

 

TonyHedges 6 pts

I have a One X and I have to say it is the best phone I have ever had. It trundles along with a quadrant rating of 6,800 and it's completely stock. It has a brilliant screen, superb sound and it looks good as well. I am a fan of HTC Sense and it is much improved from earlier iterations and there is no sign of lag. With 32 gigs in mine, I have no need for SD cards (plus there's cloud storage) and if a removable battery means I have to sacrifice thinness, then I have happy to have a thin phone. It is a complete mystery to me why people seem to prefer the SGS3 over this phone. The SGS3 is ugly in comparison and has an inferior screen, buggered if I know why people prefer it?

brianpuglisi 5 pts

@TonyHedges I agree with you totally. Samsung isn't for me. I'll take htc anyway and my htc DNA just rips the galaxy s3 to shreds