“Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp posted a first-quarter loss that was wider than analyst estimates, after ineffective marketing resulted in weak sales of its former flagship model,” Michael Gold reports for Reuters.
“The HTC One spent its year at the top of the product line receiving rave reviews but was undermined by advertising widely criticised as confusing, sending the company’s market share into free fall,” Gold reports. “HTC was once a firm third to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, selling 10 percent of smartphones globally two years ago, but it ended 2013 with a market share of just 2 percent, showed data from researcher Strategy Analytics.”
“The company started 2014 by booking a net loss of T$1.88 billion ($62.06 million) for January-March. That compared with a mean loss of T$1.59 billion estimated by 18 analysts polled by Reuters, and profit of T$85 million logged a year earlier,” Gold reports. “To distinguish itself to trend-conscious consumers, HTC must learn from Apple, whose innovative brand image and marketing strategy has won plaudits, said Taipei-based brand consultant Mark Stocker. ‘Mimic them, but figure out what your brand stands for,’ said Stocker. ‘If Apple is Mercedes Benz, try to make yourself BMW.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
The [iPhone] design is quite weak; it’s very, very basic… [HTC has] a huge advantage. – HTC CEO Peter Chou, September, 2007
It always bothers me when Apple doesn’t have real competitors in the market. Come on HTC! Get off your lazy butts and create a REAL advantage!
Strategy Analytics is known to be in samdungs pocket. Just sayin’.
Maybe people should use a real platform phones, like MS phones
Don’t need a Mediocre Service phone from Redmond thanks.
Cant find one that works… in fact can’t find one at all, sorry.
Well actually their phone is far better than Samsungs but what it shows is that spending most of your profits on advertising, marketing and blatant manipulation of the media is the difference between selling a bad product in droves and a good product making loses. That said it will only last so long, ask Microsoft.
Yep.
The M8 is a very nicely built device. Solid aluminum, nice speakers.
HTC used to make handsets for everyone else to rebrand. HTC always built good devices.
Hope the can turn it around.
They waste a lot of cash with their overpriced midrange devices, leaving them unsold. No wonder they’re struggling to stay profitable.