Has Beats Audio dragged down HTC?

[ponyo]

I loved that HTC had poor sales. I want every Android phone with sealed battery and/or no SD card to be sales failure. Did HTC ever fix the poor multitasking feature on the One X?

 

[Mopetar]

Doesn't look good for HTC. They only made $21 million in profit this past quarter. Samsung, on the other hand made over $8 billion, with most of that likely coming from phones and tablets.

 

[Wingznut]

I loved that HTC had poor sales. I want every Android phone with sealed battery and/or no SD card to be sales failure. Did HTC ever fix the poor multitasking feature on the One X?

But not everyone needs or wants those features. I prefer the build quality and solid feel of a phone without a removable back... Phones like the SGS3 feel cheap to me.

I have a DNA, and I am absolutely thrilled with it. Of course, if you need more storage or a removable battery, then this isn't the phone for you. But for those of us who don't need those things, this is a phenomenal device.

As for the original question... It's all about marketing.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I hope they nail the Android halo phone, it hasn't been done yet by anyone but they fall consistently fall short, be it OS version, hardware package, carrier exclusivity, battery life or timing.

If I were HTC in 2011-2012, I would have felt threatened and desperate to try something different instead of rehashes. Losing market share at the rate they were would have forced me to go with an all out product lineup. Instead they left the door wide open for the sgs3 to come in capture sales.In 2010, they were set up for more than parity with Samsung, now they have to wrestle with Sony and fear xperia z. Their inner workings with Qualcomm should have meant they launch the S4Pro first, in an all around top package the DNA should have been (~3000mAh/SD) and it should have launched across all carrier before the N4, September-ish.

 

[gus6464]

Sense is holding them back. It's time to get rid of that trash. The days of heavy skinning Android is over now that stock is so good and other manufacturers are getting it.

 

[dguy6789]

It's not skins or beats or anything like that. Marketing and carrier exclusivity is what kills devices and are the main reasons other companies aren't doing as well as Samsung. The One X and One X+ are good enough devices compared to the S3 to sell just as well as it does. Motorola's Razr HD and Maxx HD are both just plain better objectively than the Galaxy S3 all around but they aren't blowing the phone world up because they're only on Verizon and aren't marketed like crazy.

If you ask a random person if they've heard of the iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3 they will not only say yes but they will probably say they have also heard they are exceptionally good phones. If you ask a random person if they know what a One X or Razr Maxx HD is they will say no.

 

[Mopetar]

I don't know if it's HTC or Verizon that're responsible for these ads, but they're terrible. Probably Verizon. I remember some of the early Motorola Droid commercials being just as bad. Either way, it's not helping HTC at all.

 

[Red Storm]

It's not skins or beats or anything like that. Marketing and carrier exclusivity is what kills devices and are the main reasons other companies aren't doing as well as Samsung. The One X and One X+ are good enough devices compared to the S3 to sell just as well as it does. Motorola's Razr HD and Maxx HD are both just plain better objectively than the Galaxy S3 all around but they aren't blowing the phone world up because they're only on Verizon and aren't marketed like crazy.

If you ask a random person if they've heard of the iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3 they will not only say yes but they will probably say they have also heard they are exceptionally good phones. If you ask a random person if they know what a One X or Razr Maxx HD is they will say no.

So who do we blame? Is it HTC's fault or the carriers?

 

[bearxor]

We blame Canada!

But seriously, we blame the carriers for the way they operate, and we blame HTC for not standing up the same way Apple and Samsung have.

 

[Red Storm]

So we blame them for not being as rich.

 

[Chrono]

HTC is an awesome company. I think their marketing needs some help with making the phones cooler with more gimmicky software features aka Samsung. I own a note 2 and find some of the new motion/gestures fun to use which makes it different from the one x I use to own... which is more like bare bones android with a skin. I think people want MORE... and so they're going to have to offer more software wise to make people actually want them.

 

[swanysto]

If anything Beats audio is helping HTC. I know everybody here like to crash on beats audio for not being good, but I see tons of people out there with BA headphones on. The truth is, just like with most electronic equipment, the masses don't know any better. That is why companies like Monster are in business.

 

[Skurge]

I don't know if it's HTC or Verizon that're responsible for these ads, but they're terrible. Probably Verizon. I remember some of the early Motorola Droid commercials being just as bad. Either way, it's not helping HTC at all.

This really isn't much bettter really. I'm looking more at the girl than the phone, but I guess that could work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77M5GhUdzyQ&list=PLmpYZzpDQEhmuznYX54-6PNE5deHQzAab&index=3

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I don't know if it's HTC or Verizon that're responsible for these ads, but they're terrible. Probably Verizon. I remember some of the early Motorola Droid commercials being just as bad. Either way, it's not helping HTC at all.

I'm not sure why some people here thought that these types of commercials are good. They're horrible. Maybe they target a small audience of geeks, but that's it. Back in the day when the Motorola Droid was the ONLY real alternative to the iPhone, yeah I think this would've been ok, but you need a little more to stand out in today's arena of phones.

Anyway, look at the way Motorola went? They're practically a US-only brand now. They might be making a comeback with cleaned up phones, but this kind of advertisement clearly doesn't really help you out.

I loved that HTC had poor sales. I want every Android phone with sealed battery and/or no SD card to be sales failure. Did HTC ever fix the poor multitasking feature on the One X?

Honestly, sealed battery is fine unless you have piss poor battery life. The One X does great. People buy the iPhone still despite its sealed battery. And being only 1500mAh is fine if you can outperform most Android phones in real world use scenarios.

The no SD is not really a dealbreaker (again look at the iPhone) if you offer sufficient storage. Given Android's system partition being separate, having 11gb only is quite a bummer for many, so yeah topping out at 16gb for the One X was a huge mistake. Had they launched 32 and 64gb versions like the One X+ to begin with would've saved them.

 

[magomago]

This really isn't much bettter really. I'm looking more at the girl than the phone, but I guess that could work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77M5GhUdzyQ&list=PLmpYZzpDQEhmuznYX54-6PNE5deHQzAab&index=3

I just looked at both sets of commercials, but without audio.

(1) The Verizon commercials were horrible. I got nothing that illustrated the DNA's 1080p screen. I was only given the message that "This phone is like hooking up yourself to the neural network"

(2) The Samsung commercial was FAR better. I could watch the Commercial, see how big the phone actually is, and see its features in use.

Maybe the audio changes the commercial a lot, but VISUALLY, the Verizon commercials present none of the value of the DNA, whereas the Samsung clearly illustrates the value of the Note 2

 

[Mopetar]

This really isn't much bettter really. I'm looking more at the girl than the phone, but I guess that could work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77M5GhUdzyQ&list=PLmpYZzpDQEhmuznYX54-6PNE5deHQzAab&index=3

That Samsung commercial is loads better. It at least shows the product in use and even points out some of the features of the device. Furthermore it explains to the audience why they might want one or how it can benefit them.

The Verizon commercial is at best a feature checklist.

I'm not sure why some people here thought that these types of commercials are good. They're horrible. Maybe they target a small audience of geeks, but that's it.

I'm not even sure about that. Anyone with half a brain can't help but cringe at how tacky and horrible the commercial is. The only people who might find that commercial appealing are nine year olds who think its "the awesomest" or unfortunate recipients of a botched lobotomy.

It's possibly the worst commercial I've seen in many years. The only ones that I can think of that are worse is the old Verizon ones where it shows a phone shooting missiles.

 

[Deville]

I have a DNA, and I love it.
My first smartphone was an Incredible, second was a Rezound. I'm an HTC guy, through and through.
I love Sense for the look of its Widgets, and Sense 4+ is really refined and beautiful. I would've liked 32gB of storage and maybe a bigger battery, but overall I am very happy.

I hate the Droid DNA comercial. It looks like a damned Star Wars movie trailer. Instead of all the special effects, they should've made a commercial about how useful the phone is, and how pretty and feature-rich the full-screen widgets are (Calculator, Calendar, Agenda, etc...). And they should've shown the 3-finger swype HD-Link delivering a picture or video to an HDTV, and how neat and useful NFC can be. They should have shown an HD video game on the screen to demonstrate its awesome graphics capabilities. They should've made it stand out. Instead, you think of a guy in an electric chair being tortured.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I've never owned an HTC phone, so I don't know first hand what their issues are. I see some people complaining about a lack of updates, but as someone that has owned a lot of Samsung phones, I can tell you Samsung also does quite poorly updating their products yet is doing quite well despite it. So I don't think that's the problem.

I'm not sure how bad HTC's UI is. But the first thing I do with any Samsung phone is install a custom launcher because I think TouchWiz is silly. Not sure how big a factor the UI is to people's purchasing decisions.

No micro SD or removable battery. There's another company that seems to be doing pretty well. I'm sure this puts off the more technical savvy customers, but not sure it's much of a factor to the general public. But yeah, Samsung having these and HTC not may be somewhat of a hindrance to HTC.

What I don't get is why HTC phones seem to be limited to only certain carriers. Like the HTC One X was exclusive to AT&T for a while, maybe still is. Sprint got something that was a One X inside, but redesigned and horribly named. Why can't HTC launch it's phones on more carriers? Seems like this is probably hurting them quite a bit. I was interested in the One X, but I wasn't going to switch carriers for it.

 

[pantsaregood]

HTC's poor sales are probably less about hardware quality or advertising and more about lack of differentiation. When it comes to Android, there's not much to entice people to go for something other than Samsung. Motorola phones are pretty frequent as well, but I do believe Samsung has pretty decent control over the Android market.

I believe this is why Nokia originally decided against going the way of Android, actually. Lack of differentiation from a well-established market could be suicide.

 

[Fire&Blood]

HTC's poor sales are probably less about hardware quality or advertising and more about lack of differentiation. When it comes to Android, there's not much to entice people to go for something other than Samsung. Motorola phones are pretty frequent as well, but I do believe Samsung has pretty decent control over the Android market.

I believe this is why Nokia originally decided against going the way of Android, actually. Lack of differentiation from a well-established market could be suicide.

Agreed. They had the quality, they had an established and IMO refined design language, along with initial edge over Samsung. They were brilliant but too quiet while at it.

 

[wirednuts]

i agree, htc had been the top phone maker for a while.. from back in the wm days.. but samsung matured into physically just as good while their advertising was loud and trendy. and it worked.