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HTC to focus on fewer smartphones, more ‘Hero’ devices in 2012

In 2011, HTC sold dozens of different handsets based on roughly fifteen core devices (that’s a little more than one core device per month). But after a sharp decline in profit late in 2011, HTC is now looking to tighten things up and focus more an quality rather than quantity for its handset portfolio in 2012.

Phil Roberson, from HTC UK, told MobileToday that the company will be changing its strategy to feature fewer models of handset throughout the year while pushing out devices which are focused on great specifications and quality.

Phil also suggested HTC will take a backseat in tablet market without leaving it. For months now we’re been heading rumors about the upcoming HTC Quattro Android tablet, but this new announcement from Roberson could mean that the device will not be making its debut at Mobile World Congress next month.

We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much.

‘So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.

Despite the fall season, HTC’s UK Executive Director emphasized that the company performed well when you take all of 2011 into account.

We had a fantastic year, with 65% growth year on year in the UK. But in Q4 we delivered a lot more products than in the past. Now we want to create more of a ‘hero’ approach. We make great phones, but it is hard to do that when the portfolio is spread too much.

It’s clear that HTC’s we approach is intended to give them a stronger foothold in the mobile sector in 2012. We’ll have to wait to see how HTC’s new lineup at MWC plays out before we can judge them on their new strategy.

Do you think HTC’s plan to scale things back will pay off?

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5 comments
  1. perfectly correct approach. HTC needs to recatpure people’s attention with some radicaly new designs. Same goes for tablets. Might as well see what iPad3 is all about and then innovate on the basis of that.

    I still think HTC Scribe is a potential winning piece of technology, if used well..

  2. HTC wowed the smartphone world 18 months ago with the Supersonic EVO 4G, it’s time for them to do it again cuz I’m eligible for upgrade 20120601. Still waiting for the next EVO something to wow me like it did. Praying for a quad core & LTE. C’mon HTC you can do it!

  3. That’s precisely what I want them to do. I don’t want them to be going the way of Nokia and releasing a dozen new phones in such a short span of time. Just release a few amazing phones.

  4. I think its definitly the right thing to do, its getting back to the grass roots which is what made the company great in the first place, making fewer phones but of a higher quality and more innovative. No denying that 2011 made HTC a bigger player than they used to be, which is good but it has made me worry that their phones were becoming less special and of a less polished finish. Good on you HTC, glad you aren’t forgetting your loyal user base that bought your phones since the days of the O2 xda!

  5. This is the way to go. You need to focus on 1 to 3 products that are great but with different OS. We need Android and Windows Phones. Windows 7.5 is great and am waiting for HTC’s release of a Windows 8 phone and Android phone. I use both and seem to like the Windows 7.5 a bit better. Now we need applications for it.

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