HTC was once one of the greats of the Android smartphone movement. Some might argue that they still are, but the Taiwanese company has fallen on financial hardship in recent times. While the end to 2013 proved to be relatively disappointing in terms of getting their financials back in the black, thanks to some unusual product releases, it appears that HTC has begun 2014 with a vengeance, and I think there are several reasons why this is the case.
1. First off, HTC has gone back to its age-old adage of “quietly brilliant”; while it hasn’t seemed like a conscious decision, HTC has apparently abandoned its “Here’s to Change” campaign, spearheaded by star acquisition Robert Downey Jr., and started working in the shadows again. While that’s not to say the campaign and its marquee signing won’t come out again in the near future, but the key for HTC is that they’ve got their heads down and aren’t making a huge amount of noise about what they’re working on or what’s coming next.
2. This point is probably one for contention: some still believe that HTC CEO Peter Chou was and is HTC’s savior while others believe that its founder nearly drove the company into the ground late last year. The fact that he is still at the helm though is great news for HTC; he’s taken the company to great heights before, and while the company’s late 2013 exploits didn’t quite pan out, the consistency of having a united company behind its CEO has an unspoken effect on company stability and morale and Chou’s focus on smartphones now can only bode well for HTC.
3. One of Motorola’s greatest successes while still under the tutelage of Google was launching the Moto Maker service. The ability to customize anything to do with the appearance of your device before shipping it to you was a stroke of genius, and while Motorola never really saw the monetary reaction that the initiative deserved, it’s definitely the right direction that manufacturers should be moving in. Next on the bandwagon is HTC, who has recently launched their own Moto Maker-esque service to design cases for the HTC One. Obviously the next step would be to included devices themselves for purchase there, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction to making HTC more attractive to the market that craves customization options.
4. The news broke today that HTC would be launching its HTC Advantage Initiative, effectively an AppleCare type solution service which gives HTC device owners access to repair services and device support, something than Android manufacturers have traditionally not done particularly well. This is a big differentiating factor for HTC and really puts them in a separate league to the other OEMs who aren’t willing to provide this kind of post-purchase service. It’s important to note that this could be considered quite a big risk to HTC financially to provide this service, but for customers, the peace of mind in knowing you have a screen replacement up your sleeve is pretty much priceless.
5. This last point is mostly related to rumours surrounding the successor to the HTC One, the HTC M8 (or as it may be officially called, The All New One), but if they are true, then it puts HTC in a market leading position. The rumour in particular that I am concerned with is the one which suggests the The All New One will possess a dual-sensor rear camera, something which will provide the device with Lytro Camera-like abilities, i.e. to chance focus in photos after the photo has been taken (to read more about the tech behind this, check this article out). This would give the HTC M8 and HTC a sizable advantage in the camera arena over other Android manufacturers, an area which is typically neglected in favour of increasing the megapixel count for not much gain.
And there you have it: 5 reasons why I think HTC has turned itself around for the better, and I think that this could result in a real push that sees HTC back around the elite of the Android market. While HTC was reported to only have 2% market share at the end of 2013, watch this space as I believe their market share is definitely going to change for the better by the end of 2014.
What do you think: do you think HTC has turned a corner in 2014? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
