It’s no secret that HTC has been struggling a bit lately. Late last year, HTC announced that they would not meet earnings estimates for Q4 of 2011 and subsequently posted their first down quarter in several years. Fortunately, HTC was swift to react by announcing a change in focus for 2012. Rather than pushing out dozens of phones to please every segment of the market, HTC would focus on a few hero devices which would allow them to recapture higher profit margins and focus on performance and design.
HTC also announced a new department named HTC Studio which reports directly to CEO, Peter Chou. The Studio is tasked to focus on key launch devices which will set the company apart from the competition and regain its reputation in the marketplace and development community as the world’s smartphone leader.
With only a few days before Mobile World Congress is set to kick-off, HTC’s hard work looks like it’s already paying off. According to the latest numbers from Anlytk, HTC is trending as the top manufacturer on twitter with references to the MWC hash tag. Typically, Samsung gets a lot more buzz before the big show, but the HTC One X, One S, One V and One XL are giving HTC an edge over the competition. But social media is only the beginning. HTC’s stock price has been on a steady rise since earlier this month after reaching an eighteen month low in early December. The recent excitement around HTC’s upcoming devices has led to an increasing in the company’s value by over 20% in only three weeks.
We know that HTC’s competitors are going to be showing off some great devices at Mobile World Congress, but we all know that everyone will be focused on HTC and its new 2012 lineup.
