The top, they say is a lonely place till of course someone dethrones you. Taiwanese phone maker HTC popped out of nowhere, took the US and world smartphone markets by storm. Their year on year profits surprised many and the devices themselves were not half bad, the Evo, the Desire, Sensation, Wildfire, made for different prices ranges all got a piece of the lime light.
All the strides made by HTC put Samsung in the shade who were busy still trying to break out of Korea. As with every bubble, the HTC bubble burst and did terribly. Samsung took HTC's weak points and capitalized. Average to poor build quality of HTC smartphones has been one thing that plagued their well selling phones. Most had/have bad battery life and the hardware designers inspired but had/have too many weak points. Camera buttons, headphone jacks, display LCDs and charging inserts all had one or more assorted issues. HTC forgot to do another thing. Develop a device support base outside the carriers selling their phones.
Cue samsung, brought out better phones and better support for them and took the HTC crown on smartphones. Now HTC is struggling to sell phones. The HTC One series has failed to capture the hearts and minds of consumers. The One X is no slouch but put against the Samsug Galaxy S III but it isn't selling as well as the S III despite even having an earlier release date.
What should HTC do? Go back to the drawing board? Most certainly. Their over reliance on Android has left them in the cold, Google seems to throw the bones to them and not the meat. Device build needs to be up'd a notch. They don't have to make the heaviest phones to win. The Samsung range look and feel nice, plastics are not old.
My HTC love affair has stretched from the G1, touch diamond, and 7 Mozart. Loved all of them but all had their issues. My next smartphone shall be something else, maybe change is need to appreciate what you've always enjoyed.
Nokia or Samsung?
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