HTC is under quite a bit of scrutiny. Not too long ago, they lost a patent court battle in Mannheim, Germany that has resulted in the need to make changes to the way they build their phones and later signed a patent agreement with Nokia to remedy the issue. As we recently reported from an article, after suffering through two losing quarters they have decided to focus their attention on selling and marketing cheaper phones. I don’t know about you, but sometimes too many choices can be a bad thing. HTC can make some pretty nice and impressive phones, but the problem comes in when they make too many phones and have so many choices that they spread themselves thin and don’t market properly.
Around two weeks from now we should be getting a glimpse of their latest device, their next flagship phone. Rumors have it that it is still codenamed the HTC M8 but its real name? Not sure. HTC has been generating a lot of buzz by letting out more and more about the new phone while letting the consumers know where their company is headed at the same time. It is very smart for them to handle this by letting things out little by little and building up that anticipation. This is bringing attention to the company in a renewed fervor. People are looking at HTC closer to see what they will bring to the table this time. That is great news to the company. Some of the attention that they are getting is coming from speculation that they will be building the next Nexus tablet. If this happens, it would definitely propel them into the spotlight giving them a much-needed boost.
The company’s Chairwoman, Cher Wang, has stated that the company is going to focus on mid range devices this year and put more emphasis on marketing. This is a great idea, however there is a catch to it. Remember back in 2011, back when HTC had the HTC Sensation and the HTC Sensation XL and many other devices that were plagued with various issues? Yeah. That is a prime example of what can happen if you try to do too much with too many devices at one time. I really wouldn’t want them to go back to that strategy as it didn’t help them out back then and it definitely wouldn’t help them out right now. I think that HTC has the right idea with what they are trying to do concerning changing their market focus, but I think they should curtail their phone offerings down a bit so as to only have a handful of phones at different price points.
Wouldn’t it be nice to look into HTC’s phone offering portfolio and see maybe 4 or 5 phones selling in ranges from $150 to $600? I think that would allow the customers all around the world to have options to get in on the HTC action. If the company works the magic right and markets the upcoming HTC M8 properly, they can use that momentum to market that smaller set of phones to the masses and gain even more attention. HTC needs this. They are still holding all the cards and all the rumors and secrets concerning the upcoming new flagship. And, that’s perfect that they are doing it this way. It’s getting them noticed. The kind of attention they are getting now will serve them well.
HTC should only make sure that once they market out the new HTC M8, they also quickly add focus to their mid range and low range phones. Don’t put too many phones out on the market. Rather they should reserve that money that they would have put into building many different kinds of phones and instead put up their marketing dollars towards getting every bit of attention they can. Get folks interested in the HTC M8 and then hit them with the one-two-punch of more options if the M8 is out of their price point. Come on HTC, you can do it! I’m hoping they bring their phone offerings down to a reasonable size this time and market their latest phones like crazy.
What do you think about HTC’s current plans for the way ahead? Do you like it or not? What do you think they can do better or need to avoid doing? Leave your interesting comments below or on our Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus pages. Keep it locked to Android Headlines for more news and reviews.