Technology: Feb 26, 2012

Barcelona / Taipei, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Taiwan's HTC Corp. has made an advanced camera and music functions to a new range of phones in the center of its bid to recover from rapid fall of grace at the harsh and fickle smartphone market.

The world No. 5 smartphone manufacturer HTC launched the One series of models at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress on Sunday, taking the fight to Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. with a fast graphics chips, and advanced music and photo functions.

It is a struggle that HTC have lost at the end of last year, when its sales slumped and investors dumped its shares on concerns the company has lost its edge. Analysts said the new devices represent a pragmatic choice for a company that lacks the resources of his deep pocketed rivals.

"HTC seems to have learned from mistakes it made in 2011," said Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Information Telecommunications & Media.

"The company aims to now concentrate on what they do best and built his brand on, bringing innovation through the design of award mechanisms rather than spreading through all the efforts segments of the market."

Rapid innovation has been the hallmark of HTC's lightning rise from obscure contract manufacturer to the purveyor of wine, have gadgets. Its shares more than tripled in the 14 months to April 2011 and sales grew fourfold in 1-1/2 years as it rode a wave of popularity.

But equally rapid fall at the end of last year, as his phone was able to stay with Apple and Samsung, HTC was forced to publish profit warning and its shares price plunge 42 percent, making it the worst performer among global smartphone companies.

Amid investor fears it would follow Finland by Nokia in a sharp spiral, HTC said earlier this month that revenues will fall as much as 36 percent for the first quarter, much worse than analysts expected.

One user of HTC phones said the fun factor was missing.

"When my contract comes up, I'm thinking of switching to Samsung's Galaxy note because it doubles up as a pill and quite fun to play around with," said Phoebe Leung, a software business analyst in Hong Kong who have been using HTC Aria in the last year approximately .

Employees felt the sting of the crisis as well, with some saying they felt let down by the company to its slide and a lack of effort to bring in a real innovation.

"There is so much fun working there as I expected," one engineer told Reuters.

Others said the company was stretched on a bond and told staff that spending must be controlled, a change from previous practice of lavish spending.

Its focus is on turning around its fortunes, and senior management has said it will stick to its strategy of innovation for the high-end market and is confident the new models will get it back on track.

MUSIC and images

The HTC One series consists of three models, the One X One S and one V, running the latest version of Google's Android software. They have a fast processor for graphics and either polycarbonate or metal cases, HTC says it is more and more resistant than standard ones.

The phone features HTC's ImageSense camera technology that offers a picture says a par with traditional digital cameras, including a fast autofocus and low light shooting. They also have a photo storage and sharing software.

Music features include integrating Internet radio, and using audio technology Beats Electronics, which HTC bought last year for games as well as music.

HTC said 144 mobile operators - the largest carrier support for the firm to date - agreed to carry HTC One-end models since April.

"The products look competitive, but HTC executives will be looking over their shoulders nervously to see how these new devices stack against rival Android smartphones also be announced at the show," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Others note also that most mobile vendors build their phones around similar themes, so it is difficult to differentiate models. Companies need to look for software innovation, distribution, and building partnerships to remain before the game.

"HTC strategy to streamline its organization and offer fewer, more-differentiated products is a response to both market forces and engineering need," said Tony Cripps, principal analyst at the egg.

"His decision to focus on perfecting core smartphone functionality around a camera and music playback is extremely pragmatic one."

HTC will face a challenge from No.1 manufacturer Samsung, whose mobile chief said at the Barcelona show that he sought to almost double its smartphone sales in 2012 from previous year

Meanwhile, Apple is likely to release the next version of its iPhone this year, and up and coming challengers such as China, Huawei is also breathing down HTC's neck, with Huawei launched what he says is the world's fastest quad-core smartphone to Barcelona.

"HTC's industrial design is similar to before, there is no progress, but its hardware is closing the gap with Samsung and Apple," said Roxy Wong, an analyst at Mirae Asset Management in Hong Kong, noting the new cameras and screens on the phones.

"The new phones will not serve as a great change for the company. If it is sold with more attractive prices, he could see a profit in the market but not profitability."

Wong added that HTC's move to unify its products around a single brand, such as Samsung does with his Galaxy devices and Japan Sony Corp. is doing with Xperia, it is a good move because it would be easier for consumers to remember their phones and their features.

However, HTC is likely to stick to its "high-end brand" strategy to provide a full user experience. One HTC source with knowledge of prices said the new phones will be a price similar to Samsung's children with similar specifications.

"HTC phones this year will not be cheap," the source said.

HTC's shares will resume trading on Wednesday, Feb. 29, when the Taiwan stock exchange reopens after two-day public holiday.

They last closed T $ 629, well its peak of T $ 1,238.10 in April last year, a price that made president Cher Wang top of Forbes' rich list Taiwan last year.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

UPDATE 4-HTC bets on cameras, music to recover smartphone mojo

Technology

My Blog List

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me