Source: HTC Slumps After
Forecasting Sales Drop: Taipei Mover - Bloomberg. 2013. HTC Slumps
After Forecasting Sales Drop: Taipei Mover - Bloomberg. [ONLINE] Available
at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-30/htc-forecasts-eighth-consecutive-quarter-of-declining-sales.html.
[Accessed 13 September 2013].
The
article of the link attached focuses on a bearish market, where HTC Corp’s
stock dropped to its lowest point since November 2005. The stock is expected to
drop, leaving HTC struggling to support its operations. Despite great efforts
of keeping up with the competition such as Samsung and Sony in the mobile phone
market, those efforts does not seem to work at all.
Besides
of constantly releasing new phone models out to the ever-competitive market,
the article states that the management will be plans to boost promotion for the
HTC One and also to release more mid-range model instead of focusing on
releasing on upper-range models such as the flagship model, the HTC One.
Despite
all that, the management of HTC foresees that those plans would turn the tide
for the company, an analyst at PNB begs to differ, who does not see that
happening. HTC however has another card up in its sleeve: The HTC One Mini.
Everything (almost everything) the flagship model has, only smaller which is
expected to be released in the fourth quarter this year.
Over
the years, HTC’s been
struggling and despite countless effort to change the situation, does not seem
to work at all. This is a market of strong competition and every company needs
to stand out from the crowd. HTC’s faced with companies that has been producing
quality Android-based products, such as Samsung whose proved to be a force to
be reckon with, standing as one of the top mobile phone brand, and then there
is Sony which produces the Xperia series, releasing new models faster than a
hen laying eggs from various range. Then there is Apple that produces the
iPhone which is in a constant competition against Samsung.
With that said, HTC’s effort should not be watered
down but should be given credit as they dare to take its chances. In the
current market, Nokia has been releasing quality Windows 8 Phones; the Lumia
series. HTC tried to bring in some competition after its rather successful HTC
7 by bringing in the HTC 8 and the 8X, but despite all that, failed in terms of
sales against the Lumias. Prior to that, HTC brought yet a revival attempt to
their brand by releasing the One series, bringing in the HTC One V, One S, One
X and then later the HTC One X+. They tried to be innovative by packing the
phones in Styrofoam-like packaging that was deemed eco-friendly.
Later, they introduced the flagship model, the HTC
One. The design is amazing, classy, one-piece aluminum body, stereo speakers in
front of the phone. HTC took a gamble for that model: instead of putting in a
8MP camera, they pumped in their resources to researching and developing a 4
Ultra Pixel camera into the phone, claiming to take better pictures under low
light condition. Did they get the attention of the public? Oh yes they did, but
then crisis happened. Short of supply of the camera, resulting a plunge in its
sales as users, at that time, switched to the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The damage in HTC’s stock dropped has already been
done. Efforts taken but results not seen, in fact, they are still struggling.
One does not help but to wonder about the future of HTC Corp. Will we be seeing
yet another “Microsoft acquires Nokia,” situation? From the looks of things,
that might just be the best thing that could ever happen to HTC Corp at this
point. Who knows? Maybe its upcoming promotion and marketing plans for the One
brand, maybe even the HTC One Mini could bring a revival to its share, creating
a bullish situation in the market. Only time will tell.
Signing off,
Victor Lai
