HTC sales fall 30% in a month(reuters.com)
reuters.com
HTC sales fall 30% in a month
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/htc-idUSL5E7N61BU20111206
9 comments
As the owner of a device (HTC Desire) whose manufacturer values useless, uninstallable, abandoned bloatware over OS updates, HTC won't be seeing my money, or the money of anybody who listens to my tech-related advice ever again.
I have a Desire and I think it's great. I don't have a problem with Sense, updates have never been a problem, and aside from the battery life which is 3-4 days, it works great for me.
Upvoting is not enough here: As the (previous, now on LG o2x) owner of a HTC Hero this is exactly my stance as well. They are non-existant as far as I am concerned.
They are the worst offenders (granted, yes there are people that like that sort of stuff, obviously) in terms of bloatware and 'Sense' never lived up to its name for me.
They are the worst offenders (granted, yes there are people that like that sort of stuff, obviously) in terms of bloatware and 'Sense' never lived up to its name for me.
Surely this is more of a provider issue than a manufacturer?
I could be wrong, I live in the UK and I've never had any specific apps come installed on my phone. Nothing except a network's app to check your balance/plan usage, which is easily uninstalled.
I could be wrong, I live in the UK and I've never had any specific apps come installed on my phone. Nothing except a network's app to check your balance/plan usage, which is easily uninstalled.
This particular HTC Desire was bought in Hong Kong.
Things I don't use, don't get updates for and can't uninstall: Entertainment, EXpresso, Finance, Football, Footprints, Friend Stream, Games, Horse Racing, Info Easy Reader, Invest Pro (for CSL only), Magic Smoke Wallpapers, Musicholic, MyNet, Peep, Plurk, Smart Traveller, Social Network, Stocks, Studio On Demand.
If any knowledgeable person knows if the above names are actually useful tie-ins for things I actually do use, please speak up here.
All these apps supposedly take up 0.0B of space. Perhaps some of that magical space could be used to give me Android > 2.2, and give HTC a reputation for caring for their customers.
Things I don't use, don't get updates for and can't uninstall: Entertainment, EXpresso, Finance, Football, Footprints, Friend Stream, Games, Horse Racing, Info Easy Reader, Invest Pro (for CSL only), Magic Smoke Wallpapers, Musicholic, MyNet, Peep, Plurk, Smart Traveller, Social Network, Stocks, Studio On Demand.
If any knowledgeable person knows if the above names are actually useful tie-ins for things I actually do use, please speak up here.
All these apps supposedly take up 0.0B of space. Perhaps some of that magical space could be used to give me Android > 2.2, and give HTC a reputation for caring for their customers.
I live in the UK too and if you buy a HTC it comes pre-loaded with Sense and other apps like Adobe Reader, Email, etc. Now these apps can be useful, that goes without question. However then there's apps that aren't useful like Peep. Now given that Twitter comes pre-installed, why do you need HTC's Twitter app? At one point HTC were shipping Facebook for Sense and Facebook for Android. What sense does that make?
As for the SIM Toolkit. I'm now sure how that gets on there, but it appears to be there even after flashing a custom ROM.
As for the SIM Toolkit. I'm now sure how that gets on there, but it appears to be there even after flashing a custom ROM.
The SAT (SIM Application Toolkit) is... surprise, on the SIM card itself. It won't go away when flashing a new ROM - it will appear in any SAT-aware phone you stick the SIM into - even a 10 year old feature phone. It's mainly a relic of the noughties and dumbphones, think of it as a simple menu wrapper system which can compose and fire off Short Messages and USSD (xx#) codes on your behalf, so you don't have to remember that 101# is "check my credit" (varies by operator and country, there's no standard). They have some useful stuff (menus and shortcuts to check your balance or control functions like voice mail or sms-to-fax ), lots of less useful stuff (news, sports, weather etc.) and of course sleazier operators love to include menu entries which will fire off non-free SMS or subscribe you to crap without you realizing it.
You're referring to their UI suite, Sense. Peep and those other apps are HTC products, and part of their own (customised) Android experience.
I think there's a difference between a manufacturer's own UI and corresponding apps, and the sort of crap that gets shovelled onto the American handsets.
Edit: Actually I've just checked and my phone does have Adobe Reader! Didn't even notice that there... Oops.
I think there's a difference between a manufacturer's own UI and corresponding apps, and the sort of crap that gets shovelled onto the American handsets.
Edit: Actually I've just checked and my phone does have Adobe Reader! Didn't even notice that there... Oops.
HTC doesn't have a Jesus phone. Apple does, Samsung does, and Motorola is pretending to.
I have an HTC desire and I'm relatively happy with it overall, what is so special about the Samsung Galaxy that is worth the extra cost?
With the iphone I understand to an extent because it is more of a unique device but apart from minor spec/feature differences android phones seem pretty interchangeable to me.
Yup. They have fairly good, fairly popular phones, like the Desire or Desire HD but these get replaced with newer models so quickly they never gain enough traction to become Jesus phones (both Apple and Samsung have only one Jesus phone a year).
Samsung actually has more than one: SGS2 and the Galaxy Nexus. I'd bet HTC is really regretting not making an effort in the Nexus program last year...
makes you wonder how 'real' the numbers before that were...
someone starts stuffing the channel, someone else misinterprets as actual sales, presto, a disaster.
is HTC a recognized brand by now? as in customer loyalty? does anyone take HTC's side against say Apple or Samsung in a fanboi fight?
someone starts stuffing the channel, someone else misinterprets as actual sales, presto, a disaster.
is HTC a recognized brand by now? as in customer loyalty? does anyone take HTC's side against say Apple or Samsung in a fanboi fight?
HTC are pretty popular in the UK from what I've seen - I've even noticed (non-techy) friends referring to 'HTCs' when they mean 'Androids'.
HTC have replaced Nokia in the UK pretty much. People generally ask if you have a Samsung, HTC, iPhone or Blackberry. WP7 isn't a factor as of yet and may be the rebirth of Nokia in this country.
I've owned 2x Nexus One, 2x HTC Magic (one myTouch 3G and one Google Ion dev device) and finally a myTouch 4G (Essentially 1 HTC phone from each generation of device they have produced).
I have never enjoyed my HTC devices; they have never worked smoothly, never had some sort of minor or major hardware problem (Nexus One's screen used to have snow like an old TV, myTouch 4G out of the box required a factory reset to work correctly), working with HTC support directly was as painful as using Microsoft Xbox Live support[1] and the "HTC Sense" customized Android experience has always been bloated and of course, un-removable.
I disagree with comments like Raphael's about HTC simply not having that "jesus phone" to put them on the map; they have plenty of spec-perfect phones, the problem is their phone experience is a combination of incomplete/slow software mixed with spotty hardware that didn't spend enough time in the QA lab because the company is growing so quickly.
There was another announcement 2 weeks ago about HTC's sales dipping due to "inferior devices" and I couldn't have been happier to see that specific point actually spelled out for the first time as opposed to Engadget or Gizmodo praising the newest HTC device as the "best Android device we've seen on the market" - I cannot read that phrase without rolling my eyes anymore. I think I've read that phrase about 9 phones this year...
HTC has been enjoying growing at a break-neck speed and continue to ride that Android wave; you see the stress cracks in everything they do if you are actually putting your money down for their cutting edge devices.
Their older devices may fare better. I have a friend with a myTouch 4G that he picked up a year after launch and said he has no problems with it and battery life is solid.
The next time there is an HTC device announced that you think looks interesting, read the forums for the device for the first week and I guarantee you will find complaints about hardware and software bugs (screen problems, camera not working right, battery life unexplainably short, etc. etc.)
I don't meant to hand-wave with a bunch of negativity here... I've just been in the HTC camp for a long time now and they have never not been a pain in my side or made me regret my purchase.
Without writing a wikipedia page worth of reference links I am trying to convey to others the joy of owning a cutting-edge HTC device.
Argh.
[1] http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/my-experience-with-htc-nexus-one...
I have never enjoyed my HTC devices; they have never worked smoothly, never had some sort of minor or major hardware problem (Nexus One's screen used to have snow like an old TV, myTouch 4G out of the box required a factory reset to work correctly), working with HTC support directly was as painful as using Microsoft Xbox Live support[1] and the "HTC Sense" customized Android experience has always been bloated and of course, un-removable.
I disagree with comments like Raphael's about HTC simply not having that "jesus phone" to put them on the map; they have plenty of spec-perfect phones, the problem is their phone experience is a combination of incomplete/slow software mixed with spotty hardware that didn't spend enough time in the QA lab because the company is growing so quickly.
There was another announcement 2 weeks ago about HTC's sales dipping due to "inferior devices" and I couldn't have been happier to see that specific point actually spelled out for the first time as opposed to Engadget or Gizmodo praising the newest HTC device as the "best Android device we've seen on the market" - I cannot read that phrase without rolling my eyes anymore. I think I've read that phrase about 9 phones this year...
HTC has been enjoying growing at a break-neck speed and continue to ride that Android wave; you see the stress cracks in everything they do if you are actually putting your money down for their cutting edge devices.
Their older devices may fare better. I have a friend with a myTouch 4G that he picked up a year after launch and said he has no problems with it and battery life is solid.
The next time there is an HTC device announced that you think looks interesting, read the forums for the device for the first week and I guarantee you will find complaints about hardware and software bugs (screen problems, camera not working right, battery life unexplainably short, etc. etc.)
I don't meant to hand-wave with a bunch of negativity here... I've just been in the HTC camp for a long time now and they have never not been a pain in my side or made me regret my purchase.
Without writing a wikipedia page worth of reference links I am trying to convey to others the joy of owning a cutting-edge HTC device.
Argh.
[1] http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/my-experience-with-htc-nexus-one...
HTC makes decent hardware, but really shitty software that no self-respecting developer would release and be proud of. They wanted to "brand" htc with thier own bs crap of shit.
However two funny things:
1) There are better alternatives out there than HTC software. HTC could have picked a partner to make the dialer/calendar/home screen.
2) HTC software is easier to use than default google 2.3 software, so htc was forced to customize.
HTC was in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. They chose the rout with maximum friction: make software that cannot be upgraded via regular market updates, don't focus on software, don't outsource it to a good software maker that would allow that software to run anywhere. They wanted the "HTC" experience. We got it. It sucks.
I vowed I would not buy another HTC phone after the EVO. I will stay with that until HTC shows true improvement.
However two funny things:
1) There are better alternatives out there than HTC software. HTC could have picked a partner to make the dialer/calendar/home screen.
2) HTC software is easier to use than default google 2.3 software, so htc was forced to customize.
HTC was in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. They chose the rout with maximum friction: make software that cannot be upgraded via regular market updates, don't focus on software, don't outsource it to a good software maker that would allow that software to run anywhere. They wanted the "HTC" experience. We got it. It sucks.
I vowed I would not buy another HTC phone after the EVO. I will stay with that until HTC shows true improvement.
The availability of the iPhone 4S in Sprint is responsible for the 30% drop i would assume. The evo was a top seller for Sprint last year.
I have a HTC Desire Z (which has a flip under keyboard) and my experience has been the opposite compared to what is mentioned in the other comments. Maybe I got lucky in my pick for a model, but it's very smooth, has extremely good battery life (all my friends have to charge their smartphone every night, for me it's every 3th night unless I have used it extremely much). I would easily give it a 9 out of 10
I have a Desire Z (since June) and what I would call low usage: perhaps a few texts per day, generally no calls & always on (but hardly ever used) wifi. I find I have to charge my phone nightly or the battery will last for a full day & then die halfway through the second.
To add to that, I have found the camera to be exceptionally poor, and the hardware keyboard will occasionally trigger shortcuts rather than inputting the text.
To add to that, I have found the camera to be exceptionally poor, and the hardware keyboard will occasionally trigger shortcuts rather than inputting the text.
I have similar battery life on my Desire Z.
The shortcuts thing is kinda fixable, you need to disable each keyboard shortcut.
The shortcuts thing is kinda fixable, you need to disable each keyboard shortcut.
Of course HTC sales have fallen. Everyone is going nuts over the Samsung Galaxy S2 and/or the iPhone 4GS and HTC simply have nothing on the market that's even near competing.
You look at the fact that HTC are unsure of what they want to be, creating quality apps for Sense but Android incompatible meaning that once you flash you lose the apps completely. A prime example of this is the camera app. The cameras on HTCs generally suck, but HTC get the most out of them, however once you flash, all is lost as they've attempted to close themselves off.
Samsung are pretty much the go-to OEM for the highest specification phones and up till now, HTC have had the build quality. However if you oversaturate the market with average phones that can't compete with high specification phones, no one will care about build quality. HTC need to concentrate on making the type of phone you buy knowing you want to flash your phone and you might drop your phone on occasion.
And instead of investing in companies like Beats by Dre, how about them investing in the likes of Cannon or Nikon to make up for shortfalls they have which the likes of Samsung and Apple just don't have.
They need to understand that less is more and that owning a HTC should not feel the same for a Wildfire owner as it does for a Sensation owner.
You look at the fact that HTC are unsure of what they want to be, creating quality apps for Sense but Android incompatible meaning that once you flash you lose the apps completely. A prime example of this is the camera app. The cameras on HTCs generally suck, but HTC get the most out of them, however once you flash, all is lost as they've attempted to close themselves off.
Samsung are pretty much the go-to OEM for the highest specification phones and up till now, HTC have had the build quality. However if you oversaturate the market with average phones that can't compete with high specification phones, no one will care about build quality. HTC need to concentrate on making the type of phone you buy knowing you want to flash your phone and you might drop your phone on occasion.
And instead of investing in companies like Beats by Dre, how about them investing in the likes of Cannon or Nikon to make up for shortfalls they have which the likes of Samsung and Apple just don't have.
They need to understand that less is more and that owning a HTC should not feel the same for a Wildfire owner as it does for a Sensation owner.
Strange that they're claiming HTC is losing sales to Apple. I rather expect they're losing sales to Samsung instead.
I've got a 1.5 year old HTC Legend, which is ... okay.
I've got a 1.5 year old HTC Legend, which is ... okay.
I definitely think Samsung was big factor too. I have multiple friends and family members who switched from HTC phones to the new Samsung ones this year and they all seem pretty happy with them.
One of the promises of Android was to allow manufacturers to customize the experience (to a certain degree) to the end user. I wonder if it wouldn't hurt instead of creating things like Sense UI to try to provide the best hardware that supports the reference implementation of the stock Android OS.
On my Google+ and Facebook feeds my friends go nuts over the various Nexuses and when I've played with them I wish I could have that experience instead of the customization that's supposed to make my life better from the manufacturers.
On my Google+ and Facebook feeds my friends go nuts over the various Nexuses and when I've played with them I wish I could have that experience instead of the customization that's supposed to make my life better from the manufacturers.
CIQ