When HTC and Verizon originally announced the Thunderbolt at the 2011 Consumer Electronics event, the device was expected to be a top-of-the-line flagship. Both Verizon and HTC marketed it like crazy and the launch day brought Apple-like excitement. It was the first Verizon device to pack LTE connectivity, featured insanely powerful specifications for that time period, and rocked the ever-so popular kickstand. Unfortunately when the device launched, the excitement quickly turned into disappointment and negativity. The battery life on the Thunderbolt ended up being atrocious and the software was incredibly buggy. Verizon and HTC didn’t help the device’s case by neglecting it soon after launch and not providing updates for it. If one positive thing can be pulled from the Thunderbolt, it is that it looks like HTC listened to its users, at least according to one employee.
An HTC employee, going by the Erick_HTC username, believed to be Erick Nielsen, has been browsing reddit lately, answering users questions and providing support. One user took to the site to complain about the HTC Thunderbolt and everything that went wrong with it.
Nielsen responded to the comment with nothing but apologies. He said that he is “sorry about the Thunderbolt in general,” but did note that it was a very “difficult project.”