Friday, July 27, 2012

The crisis in the HTC. Ways out

The fact that HTC is in crisis, I think it is no secret. And the fact that now this crisis has only worsened, it may become for some news, but it is so. Just look at the value of the shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange HTC and look at the latest high-end smartphone sales and falling profits. Judge for yourself in the middle of 2011 the value of one share of HTC was about U.S. $ 40, but now - less than $ 10. Production line of One, it would seem, will help a little to rectify the situation, but actually selling One X were low because of competition from the Samsung Galaxy S III, and the model One S, is more interesting in terms of price and features, still been overrated at the start sales, in addition, the company did not advertise this product.

In this article I will try to dream a little bit on the "way out of HTC's crisis", the first half of the article will focus on options for vehicles, which could make the HTC, in my custom view, and in the second, we briefly talk about real solutions that could be to apply the company.
The company one product

Today the company is a product called Apple. Not in the sense that Apple has been one successful device of all time, we are talking about the actual products. In the case of Apple's one - a maximum of two phones, a tablet, a few laptops and, perhaps, everything. The company updates its device once a year and a half, simply by replacing the actual product is the next innovation, expansion no lineup, no dashing experiments. However, HTC, oddly enough, throughout its history, the company had one product. Yes, the manufacturer now has a serious range of smartphones in the past, the company was not a unit in the year, but the hit single became a model at different times, they were different characters.

Following the rebranding of the company and to market the eponymous brand HTC, while popular and commercially successful was the communicator HTC P3300, known as the HTC Artemis. The next model, which sold well, was the HTC Touch - the first device with a proprietary coating. Then there was the Touch Diamond - the most compact and beautiful (both in design and interface) on Windows Mobile device at the time. Well, then the time has come Android - HTC Hero, HTC Desire and the Incredible S. Around the same time, the company has released one of the last successful Windows Mobile devices - HTC HD2, but in the latter case, it was not about sales, but rather about people's love for the device. Over the years HTC conducted various experiments, trying to make more products of the middle class, tried to enter the market available "sensornikov" with a closed system (HTC Smart), mastering Windows Phone. However, with the Incredible S, in my opinion, the case of HTC were to go down the ramp. Next, after the flagship of HTC Desire HD, HTC Sensation, has proven controversial and ambiguous, moreover, he dropped out to compete with Samsung Galaxy S II - plastic bricks without design, but with different characteristics, in what direction or spit: camera, screen, sound, time, the performance - it was all good.Buying in 2011 a majority stake Beats Electronics, produces branded headphones Beats Audio, in my opinion, another blunder HTC. Then I did not think so, yes, probably a lot of people did not think waiting for HTC's new class of products with a gorgeous sound. In fact, the company began to sculpt the body Beats Audio logo, and is equipped with some good headphones a few smartphones of the brand, that's all. Neither of which work on a real musical devices of speech was not conducted, and 27 July, the company has returned and did a 25% stake back to Beats Electronics.In early 2012 the hope of improving the situation in the company became a ruler HTC One - vehicles with a cool design and good performance. But consistently high product prices and fast for the HTC HTC One X output of its main competitor, Samsung Galaxy S III, spoiled the whole raspberries for the company, and now we have what we have, HTC is in a difficult situation, but loud enough about it yet who is speaking. It seems to me that the surest way for the company - concentration of all efforts around a single top-end product, and only then release him after a few models are simpler, as it did before, at the beginning. Indirectly, this path is confirmed by the company itself, for example, CEO HTC Peter Chou in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal said that in future the company will try to focus on expensive, high-end products and will not spoil the image of the release of budget decisions. The interview can be found here (English, to register on the site).However, Peter Chou in an interview does not give any specific examples of future smart phones and devices, I suggest you reflect on this theme.
Music smartphone

Are there any smartphones in the market of music? In my opinion, no. The first and only musical, good smartphone was Nokia N91, the legendary machine. All that was done after it came out and the nameplates under the "musical" way or the other contained a fair amount of marketing and at least the soul.
Review of GSM / UMTS-smartphone Nokia N91

Meanwhile, today, users listen to music on the smartphone much more, because market players dies and replace it just phones and smartphones. That is, the niche is, but no one to fill it in a hurry. Of course, most have enough opportunities to listen to music absolutely any smartphone with a 3.5 mm jack, and there are now many, but what if HTC will do a music machine?Smartphone with good characteristics at the time of, say, if this is 2012, the machine with a 4 "screen resolution of 1280x720 pixels, a gigabyte of RAM and a fast platform from nVIDIA and Qualcomm. 8 megapixel camera with no frills, and then starts the main thing. Musically, the smartphone must be at least 64 GB of internal memory, optional memory card slot. Included - quality headphones, just with the the HTC problems should arise. During the processing of sound quality must meet a separate chip, not a mass solution used in smartphones today, and something really good that even fans of the "warm tube sound" after listening to music on this unit would buy him as a player and phone recommend to friends and happily exchanged views on the Internet. This is important because it is such an audience the device can start collecting praise on forums and other sources. And in the end of the picture, the smartphone must be equipped with a good music player level PowerAMP, with support for "out of the box" most of the existing audio formats, including uncompressed audio formats. Of course, this should be music smart phone quality hardware music keys, despite the fact that many people seem to like touch buttons are just as comfortable, it is a myth and simply addictive.It may be noted that some old school turns out a product that now even in the players touch the button, and uncompressed audio to the mass market, nobody wants. To this I can only say one thing - the mass market is now the flagship products from Sony, HTC and LG do not want anyone in particular, as people choose between the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S. I do not like the prevailing situation, and, in my opinion, the release by HTC's now a truly musical leader could seriously shake up the market for expensive smartphones, cheer him.
"Camera Phone"

One would think, why HTC do another fotoflagman when there is One X? That may be so, the company has really focused attention on the new smartphone camera and its photographic capabilities. But the reality is slightly different. Yes, the HTC One X a good camera, but that's all over, in the sense that fotosostavlyayuschey unit does not have enough stars from the sky, it just is not inferior to its competitors.
Review of Nokia smartphone 808 - 41 megapixel camera

In my opinion, quality modern fotoflagman - a cross between the Nokia 808 and apparatus PureView level Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X and Sony Xperia S. Such a smart phone should have good performance (see "music smart"), and worked out all the details related to photofraction. This is, firstly, the hardware keys photos and videos on the body, and separate. Secondly, securely protected from dust and scratches and other damage, the camera lens, ideally an indoor automatic or manual shutter or some other mechanism. Third, xenon flash, which in some situations it may be useful to the standard LED flashlight in most modern smartphones. Fourth, thoughtful software, this item is already in the HTC One X. Naturally, we need study details, such as the ability to quickly turn the camera from the locked state of the smartphone and easy changing of important settings. And most importantly - quality camera module with a maximum in comparison with the mass smartphones resolution (12 MP and above) to the unit stand out compared to other devices on this parameter.
Dual-SIM flagship

I do not know how this idea can be demanded by the market, but why not? What if HTC will make the device, technically almost the same smartphone One X, but with support for two SIM-cards and two radios? However, in this case, the device needs to be done at least twice as thick and set back a good battery for HTC this is probably a capacity of about 2700-3000 mAh battery only on a dual-SIM device with two radios will show a decent time, I think .Plus the idea that this unique solution on the market today simply does not. Almost (or all) machines do not even middle segment with two radios, dual-SIM champions either, although the market for such smartphones, with support for two SIM-cards is growing steadily, it is still limited by the budget sector.The company HTC is now only one example of dual-SIM device, and that, in my opinion, it is not good, so that practice in this promising area HTC have not stopped.
Review of dual-SIM smartphone HTC Desire V
Technically perfect smartphone

Three or four years ago, when released HTC devices like the HTC HD2, HTC TyTN II and some other major advantage over its competitors of the company (then still on the market of Windows Mobile) was an excellent combination of performance, functionality and stability of the devices. Of course, competitors, and while the HTC were weaker than they are now, but the company has changed from the time course of development, shifting the emphasis from hardware to software and additional services.
Review of GSM / UMTS-smartphone HTC HD2

What if the company to try again to do what had turned out the HTC is best? I mean, uncompromising leader of a surplus at the time of performance in everything. If this unit is out now in place HTC One X, it would have to possess characteristics similar to the following levels: quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro platform from Qualcomm, 4 GB RAM, 64-128 GB of internal memory and card slot, a screen with a diagonal 4-5 "and FullHD resolution 1920x1080 pixels, 12-megapixel camera, of course, that all wireless interfaces and capacity battery and a spare battery included. It looks as if HTC could even do something similar, then the cost of the phones would have been enormous. On the other hand, is now the flagship HTC is not the official price of space?
Smartphone Game

After the failure of the market game Android-smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia Play hard to believe that this segment can be popular. However, it seems to me that if the HTC smartphone could provide the level of One S in characteristics, but with more memory and a slot for the card, as well as the larger screen and, most importantly, convenient hardware buttons for games - the device could become popular. It would be important to produce a smartphone soon with lots of cool games already installed, so that users do not have to look for them yourself after purchase, well, and most importantly, of course, price. If you install the game on the price of a smartphone that level, which was chosen at the start for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play - will not be buying it, but whether HTC put the price lower? Hardly.
Review of GSM / UMTS-smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Inexpensive flagship

One of the most logical scenarios for HTC in the current situation, I think. Make a machine with good quality materials and expensive housing, recognizable and interesting design, as well as good, but not more, performance, and promote it as a flagship. That is, if it happened now, smartphone technical level about HTC One S, but sold at the start at the right price in the area of ​​20 000 rubles for Russia. At the same time imagine that HTC One X, the company simply does not in this case, and all efforts are to promote the One S, and because this is really good and smart at the start, the company put him to the normal price (we are, again, of Russia) He would have sold well.
Overview of the smartphone HTC One S

For companies, this option is good for the fact that efforts will be shifted from the promotion is not the most successful leader, who is competing now with the Samsung Galaxy S III, to work with a more interesting unit of medium-high price range, which the producers do not pay so much attention . Of course, all companies have a similar model, but the emphasis is, as a rule, it is the flagship, as in matters of support and upgrades, and in terms of advertising and other things. So for HTC shift to a simpler segment winnings from all sides: less competition, not so much the cost of funds.
Go to Microsoft and make Windows Phone

There is another option, not the most happy, judging by the situation in Nokia, but it should not be written off. HTC is an old friend from Microsoft can, starting with Windows Phone 8, concentrated their efforts on this operating system, and produce in the future, more WP-smart, not Android-devices. It is not clear what will happen with an interface that Microsoft's WP7 saves and does not allow the change, what will happen to pricing and so on, but the possibility of a shift of focus on Windows Phone from HTC, perhaps, always remains. In Microsoft and will be happy to do such a sudden turn from the Taiwanese manufacturer and was once one of the main partners of the progress of MS Windows Mobile and manufacture of devices on it.
Out of the Crisis in reality

All of the above options - of course, no more than my imagination. Some, such as music smartphone, hardly would have been popular, while others, such as "camera phone" would be a small sale in any case, even in the presence of informational noise around the device, as is the case with the Nokia 808 PureView.
The reality is that companies in any case it is necessary to reduce the cost of its smartphones in some markets, this applies to Russia in full measure. It is possible to do so by sacrificing profit or conditions of work with partners, but this should be done.The second point - you need to focus on one or two, maximum three products to the end of the year, and next year also demonstrate just a few novelties. It should be very well thought-out and a small line of smart phones, where each device is interesting in itself and there are no intersections that occur today between different devices from HTC, technically similar, externally, and everything else. In addition, companies should try to release updates as quickly as possible to their Android-devices, and work on the WP-devices in the current situation may be better to minimize, though with the release of Windows Phone 8, probably, the company is worth to try their hand with the the system again.
The last and probably the most difficult decision - refusal of a proprietary interface HTC Sense. Personally, I like this the shell is still like it, not even so - enjoy! - This is what touches me in smartphones from HTC and makes them for me, unlike the other devices from other manufacturers. But we must face the truth - since about version of Sense 2.5 is introduced into the shell of more obscure changes than extremely positive. Yes, interesting ideas and details in Sense still missing, but every year the standard Android interface for ease of getting better and catching up with Sense. Of course, the beauty of the underlying interface to the Android shell from HTC yet oh how far, but they are functionally similar. And after one or at most two years, the standard Android interface with the specified rate of development now, I'm sure will be better than the HTC Sense. In this situation, the company simply does not make sense to further develop a proprietary membrane, where it can be used at no cost standard of the same level of performance. And freed from the development of resources Sense HTC can to put on more important - the release of stable firmware, the ideal job at the start of smartphones, improvements in power consumption and much more.
Conclusion

I am the current situation in the smartphone market seems bleak, to be honest. There is a current-generation Apple iPhone, now it is 4s, soon will the fifth version. The unit will buy, how strange it is, would not happened without a doubt. There is a Samsung with its Galaxy S III in the glossy casing and Mark designed in the style of "remnant TM».

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