Friday 27 January 2012

HTC admits it over reached in 2011 and decides this year, less is more

By on 06:58
HTC Explorer
HTC will scale back its handset range for 2012 confessing they tried to ‘do too much’ last year, releasing too many models.
HTC UK chief Phil Robertson acknowledged that a stack of too many mid-low end models released in the final quarter had a disappointing effect, with HTC reporting a quarterly net income of $364 million – a fall of 26%.
He said the Taiwanese company will focus more on high end devices and aim to improve the brand reputation: “We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience.  We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much.

“So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of SKUs.”
This quality over quantity approach will be a relief to many consumers bewildered by the amount of handsets released this year. Three different Sensation models alone were launched with the which-is-better XE or XL debate still running (personally the XE did a sweet job of replacing my Desire HD, may she rest in peace.)
This back-to-basics approach will also mean the tablets will go on the back burner, as HTC concentrates on its new high-end quad-core handsets, which we expect to see a look of at next month’s MWC expo in Barcelona.
In a market dominated by the bigger boys on the playground, it looks like HTC have followed suit and admitted it’s about quality over quantity.  Apple usually release only one smartphone a year and Samsung place most of their faith in the Galaxy series. This frees up a lot of resources for effective marketing, which Roberson admits is “hard to do when the portfolio is spread too much.”
Sounds simple? Well, no not really. HTC now face a gamble on a smaller portfolio, where every release must be a seller.  With less room for error, they really can’t afford a flop.
Maybe HTC have had to take a step back, look at their products, and decide on the brand they want to be.  Maybe they have learned to focus on what they do best – delivering a high end model with the marketing to match.

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