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Happier times: Sun and Google were Java allies in October 2005, when Sun's then-president Jonathan Schwartz, left, and CEO Scott McNealy, ce ...
If we cast an eye back and look at HTC’s high point — when it claimed the third spot in the 2011 smartphone manufacturer charts – we can also see it was a distant third to Apple and Samsung. Many analysts have suggested that HTC’s real failing has been an inability to compete with Samsung’s marketing spend. The brand HTC built is a premium one and as support for the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones spread to more and more carriers, HTC hasn’t been able to attract enough attention. It’s latest attempt was its flagship HTC One X, but the device failed to catch on.
The battle between the Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X is by no means clear cut, but Samsung has definitely won the sales battle. With the iPhone 5 on the horizon, HTC is now looking at price cuts as a way to try and compete. The company must be perplexed about the poor performance because the HTC line-up is still very good. Perhaps it simply can’t compete. Apple and Samsung are huge brands in multiple tech markets and they spend a lot more money on marketing than HTC can afford to match.
The tides have turned
It does seem as though HTC is now struggling because of the very things that made it successful. Consumers don’t seem to be prioritizing build quality, as evidenced by the success of the Samsung Galaxy S3 over the HTC One X.
HTC’s success at the lower end of the market with devices like the Wildfire has been swept away in a tidal wave of Samsung releases and budget priced phones from companies like Huawei. Diversions, like the female-oriented HTC Rhyme, look a bit embarrassing now, and were probably costly in terms of brand image.
HTC’s Sense overlay hasn’t aged well either. While it used to offer a genuine boost to stock Android, the platform has improved a lot in the last few iterations and Sense seems to be offering less. The issue of delayed upgrades and fragmentation, and some questionable tweaks to new versions, has also dented the adulation that HTC Sense used to enjoy.
We can’t ignore the fact that HTC’s innovation has faltered; its designs have missed the mark on more than one occasion; and its marketing efforts have not captured the public imagination. The company simply doesn’t seem to have its finger on the pulse of the smartphone market anymore.
Turn the ship around
HTC may be down but it certainly isn’t out. It will continue to release premium Android phones and we can expect some Windows Phone 8 releases to hit the stores in October.
If rumors about deep price cuts are true, HTC could pick up a lot of new customers. A heavily discounted HTC smartphone would be a seriously tempting prospect. If it can raise its profile a bit and remind people that HTC smartphones are really good, then perhaps it can carve out more than a “quietly brilliant” niche in the smartphone market and grow into a stylish alternative to the current behemoths, Apple and Samsung.
The road back is not an easy one. How do you rate HTC’s chances?