Tuesday’s trading session in Taiwan was just as brutal as Monday’s as HTC’s stock fell 9.93%, lowering the company’s market capitalization to a mere $2 billion USD. Since June 1, HTC’s stock has precipitated 27.2% from NT$103.50 to NT$75.30. Today’s closing price for HTC was down more than 50% from the 12 month highs that the company reached in mid-February.
As of now, there’s no good news on the horizon for HTC. The collapse in the stock price shows that major investors have lost all confidence in HTC’s ability to perform on the same level as its competitors. If the stock price drops any further, HTC could conceivably initiate a stock buyback with the $1.7 billion in cash it has on hand and become a private company. A move like that would be very controversial, but it would allow HTC to take complete control of its destiny and remove any external scrutiny on the company’s financial performance. Unfortunately, HTC would still need to find a way to become relevant again in the ever-changing technology sector.
Source: Morningstar
As a HTC fan the news over the last couple of days have been sad. They basically got one thing wrong in the M9 when compared to the competition with the camera and it has cost them dearly. I’m sure with their back against the wall they will come out fighting next year! I have had the M8 for a year and it still performs superbly, I look forward to the M10 once my contract ends and hopefully HTC will be able to plow millions into marketing to show people they should get it!
I’m still of the opinion that the camera on the HTC One M9 is fairly good. Not as good as what’s available on the competition flagship devices from Samsung and LG, but still better than what’s available on Motorola and Nexus phones.
In my opinion, HTC’s marketing strategy is to blame. HTC has always tried to be “different” without a clear picture of why the company of products are different. All they really need is a commercial that shows the darn phone, shows how people use it and say why it’s better than the competition. Samsung does this extremely well and that’s why people walk into stores and ask for a Samsung phone without even looking at other options. If HTC can figure out how to market it’s products, they will be just fine.
I couldn’t agree more, having good camera performance is a continually moving goal post, having looked at pictures from last year’s reviews of the S5 and G3, the One M9 is easily on par with them.
The marketing issue is really something they have got to get right now, particularly as they are expanding their product portfolio, and to this day I doubt many people have even heard of the Re Camera. They advertise very well on social media, and get the brand out by sponsoring events in the UK like the MOBO Awards and of course sponsor the Champions League and Europa League football. But, like you said, they have got to show why the product deserves to be in your pocket for a year or more commonly two years!
I know what they should have pitched, their OS. They should continue their focus on the simplicity of what the Sense UI is and what their phones are. By far the cleanest and sexiest of the android devices. The design of the m9 is sexy and Sense is almost close to perfect. Sense needs to be a bit more streamlined and integrate with computers a lot better. Again, I agree with you two, marketing is the issue. I feel what they should pitch is the simplicity and how refined sense is.
https://htcsource.com/2015/04/htc-one-m9-raw-versus-jpg-image-comparison/
According to that the camera is fine, it’s HTCs software that is ruining it.
Well, I’m an HTC fan, but they are hard headed. On HTC One, they “created” Ultrapixel. But, it sacrificed the definition, public opinion was divided. On HTC One M8 it got worse. Duo Camera is nice, but I never used them. Duo camera should do a 3d-like effect, making every shoot unique. But even with thatm, A LOT of pictures I take, I cannot do duo effects, with a lot of excuses. on M8 they dropped OIS, one day I tried to take 3 photos on the street at night and all of them was blurred. No, Ultrapixel is not good as the best megapixels out there. A lot of websits says M9’s battery is worse. I was a video that a guy could easily bend the M9, but could not the M8. They do not hear the costumers and still had big HTC bezzel. The fingerprint scanner was ready, but they did not put. HTC got out from Brazil, one of biggest smartphones market, and when they were here, it was HTC Ultimate their flagship, not an Android one. HTC’s marketing is horrible.
2014 was almost perfect for HTC, but 2015 HTC One M9 was a completely deception… I hope M10 or another flagship comes out. Because M9 appeared only to stop having updates to my ViperOne M8…