HTC One Delay Because HTC is No Longer a 'Tier One Customer'; Peter Chou Bets His Job

[dgstorm]

Things are truly getting desperate at HTC says a new report from the Wall Street Journal. According to the article, the delays for the HTC One have been confirmed to be because of supply shortages for parts on HTC's new UltraPixel camera. However, that's not the only reason. Apparently HTC has done a bad job managing their supply chain because their phones have been selling so poorly. Because of constant interruptions, missed order forecasts and downgraded parts orders over the past year and a half, they have been downgraded and are no longer a "tier one customer."

As if that weren't bad enough, supposedly, HTC's CEO Peter Chou has effectively bet his job on the success of the HTC One. The WSJ reports that Mr. Chou informed other executives within the company that if the HTC One flops he will step down from his position. In this instance, it's hard to see if this is admirable or not. Falling on your sword in loyalty to show your passion and commitment seems noble, but it may be too little too late for the once great mobile tech company. What will it take to save HTC?

Source: WSJ

 

[kodiak799]

LOL, if the HTC One flops the Board will probably fire him.

 

[cybertec69]

HTC screwed up by not having the customer be able to replace his battery and no micro expansion slot, if the HTC One has those two features it would sell like HOT cakes, you see Samsung pays attention to their customer base and delivers product on time with software updates. There is a reason Samsung has stuck to the plastic design, it is easy to manufacture , plastic lets signal from the antenna pass through with ease, all these are areason why they are able to pump out millions of phones to the public is a short time.
HTC needs to realize that building a Ferrari type phone takes time in manufacturing,with higher costs "something HTC does not have", time and money to waste. It only gets worse, and I used to love HTC, what the heck happened to them is beyond comprehension, HTC One launch delay confirmed, camera and unibody to blame - GSMArena.com news

 

[xeene]

By the time HTC one launches on Verizon it will be a midrange phone and out of competition. Looks like someone will be looking for a new job.

 

[kodiak799]

I'm not sure the non-replaceable battery and no SD is a huge fail - doesn't stop the IPhone from selling a ton. There's no doubt those two issues lose customers, but I'm not sure it's nearly as significant as made out to be. I like a ton of storage but definitely feel I'm in the minority (especially with a 64gig internal option). I've never had a need, or desire, to replace the battery - it's really not a huge deal to recharge for 90%+ that are around outlets most of the day.

That said, I don't see a huge reason to remove those features. Although I suppose $20 or whatever is a hefty chunk of margin when the price points are already largely pre-determined (i.e. $299 on contract). But relatively speaking, there is no doubt removing those features and spending the $20 savings on marketing will net more sales overall.

Everyone has had their flops - the TBolt, but let's not forget about the Bionic or even the GNex. And goodness - remember those first Galaxy tabs (probably not because no one bought them!)? Where HTC really fails is on the marketing - the Rezound was and is an excellent phone, but one of the most poorly promoted in recent memory.

 

[droidbionicmaster]

By the time HTC one launches on Verizon it will be a midrange phone and out of competition. Looks like someone will be looking for a new job.

Ummm HTC one isn't coming to Big Red.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Droid Forums

 

[Raverrevolution]

I'm not sure the non-replaceable battery and no SD is a huge fail - doesn't stop the IPhone from selling a ton. There's no doubt those two issues lose customers, but I'm not sure it's nearly as significant as made out to be. I like a ton of storage but definitely feel I'm in the minority (especially with a 64gig internal option). I've never had a need, or desire, to replace the battery - it's really not a huge deal to recharge for 90%+ that are around outlets most of the day.

That said, I don't see a huge reason to remove those features. Although I suppose $20 or whatever is a hefty chunk of margin when the price points are already largely pre-determined (i.e. $299 on contract). But relatively speaking, there is no doubt removing those features and spending the $20 savings on marketing will net more sales overall.

Everyone has had their flops - the TBolt, but let's not forget about the Bionic or even the GNex. And goodness - remember those first Galaxy tabs (probably not because no one bought them!)? Where HTC really fails is on the marketing - the Rezound was and is an excellent phone, but one of the most poorly promoted in recent memory.

The Gnex was a flop?? I mean it feels like it didn't get to the popularity of the S3, but I wouldn't call it a flop at all. 3rd party development support has been insane for it. Not everyone knows what a Gnex is, but it's nowhere in the same ballpark as the Bionic and the Tbolt. Those were both truly red headed step android children. I had the Bionic and a friend of mine had the Tbolt and we're both enjoying our Gnexs now.

 

[sNuFfYStiGLiTZ]

I'm not sure the non-replaceable battery and no SD is a huge fail - doesn't stop the IPhone from selling a ton. There's no doubt those two issues lose customers, but I'm not sure it's nearly as significant as made out to be. I like a ton of storage but definitely feel I'm in the minority (especially with a 64gig internal option). I've never had a need, or desire, to replace the battery - it's really not a huge deal to recharge for 90%+ that are around outlets most of the day.

But Apple has options for bigger internal memory. And they've somehow managed to figure out what sort of witchcraft is needed to make their batteries life really good.

 

[Dusty]

Ummm HTC one isn't coming to Big Red.

VZW got FCC ok'd with an HTC device with specs close to that of the One. The development name points to it being the Droid DNA+.

As usual... they had to ruin it.

 

[xeene]

Ummm HTC one isn't coming to Big Red.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Droid Forums

That's what I thought too till I saw this http://allthingsd.com/20130318/dont...ead-on-twitter-verizon-is-so-getting-htc-one/

 

[xsylus]

I love how the graphic uses HTC's own slogan against them :biggrin: ...but maybe the real issue is the "quietly" part. HTC needs to communicate with all the departments especially the supply and marketing departments; they need to stop doing things so quietly. Wasn't it Samsung who had millions of units of one of their galaxy phones ready to go before they even started marketing it? How are you going to create a hype for something and then not be able to deliver on it. I swear some of these companies business-model paradigms are ludicrous. I personally never had direct experience with any of the HTC devices as I've been pretty brand loyal. I just prefer brands I recognize to ones that could be here today gone tomorrow. I briefly owned one LG device and hated it so I have no plans to buy LG phones. I haven't tried Samsung mainly because I thought their early devices were too "iphone-ish", plus I've never liked the cheap plastic battery door. My niece had a Galaxy and after holding that phone for a short while I'd start to lose my grip on it because my palm sweat plus the smooth plastic back made it slippery. I like devices with the soft-rubber coating. I will admit the HTC One's metal casing looks sharp but I wonder how that effects the antennas; ASUS had that issue with the TF201 tablet I think. Overall I've been pretty satisfied with Motorola phones and I'm hoping now that Google has a more direct influence on Motorola that we'll start seeing some truly awe-inspiring devices from the big M.

 

[jroc]

edit...

 

[Universal]

The Gnex was a flop?? I mean it feels like it didn't get to the popularity of the S3, but I wouldn't call it a flop at all. 3rd party development support has been insane for it. Not everyone knows what a Gnex is, but it's nowhere in the same ballpark as the Bionic and the Tbolt. Those were both truly red headed step android children. I had the Bionic and a friend of mine had the Tbolt and we're both enjoying our Gnexs now.

Agreed.

 

[lisa3721]

if the HTC One flops the Board will probably fire him.

 

[thesteveoproject]

I'm not sure the non-replaceable battery and no SD is a huge fail - doesn't stop the IPhone from selling a ton. There's no doubt those two issues lose customers, but I'm not sure it's nearly as significant as made out to be. I like a ton of storage but definitely feel I'm in the minority (especially with a 64gig internal option). I've never had a need, or desire, to replace the battery - it's really not a huge deal to recharge for 90%+ that are around outlets most of the day.

That said, I don't see a huge reason to remove those features. Although I suppose $20 or whatever is a hefty chunk of margin when the price points are already largely pre-determined (i.e. $299 on contract). But relatively speaking, there is no doubt removing those features and spending the $20 savings on marketing will net more sales overall.

Everyone has had their flops - the TBolt, but let's not forget about the Bionic or even the GNex. And goodness - remember those first Galaxy tabs (probably not because no one bought them!)? Where HTC really fails is on the marketing - the Rezound was and is an excellent phone, but one of the most poorly promoted in recent memory.

The iPhone sells so much firstly because of excellent marketing, and secondly because everybody seems to think it's some sort of Godsend when it's really not that great:icon_ goofy::wink: I agree the Rezound was a great phone at the time, but HTC's marketing department fell short on making it very well known.