HTC Will Not Be Bundling Beats Audio Headsets With Phones Anymore

[dgstorm]

Is this a $300 Million dollar case of buyers remorse? After spending that much to purchase a 51% stake of the Beats Audio company, HTC started bundling the Beats Audio headsets into their high-end smartphones, like the Rezound. However, don't expect to see that happen with the new HTC One X and the HTC EVO 4G LTE, or any other HTC phone in the near future. Apparently, that particular marketing campaign hasn't fared too well for HTC, because they have already decided to shelve it, or at least the headphone bundling part of it anyway. Reportedly, they will still work to integrate Beats Audio tech into their smartphones, but they will no longer bundle headphones with their phones. You will have to purchase them separately.

Obviously, on the surface, it seemed like it would have been a good idea: HTC bundles the Beats Audio headsets with their phones, to both add value to their lineup and to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. Unfortunately, the reality is that smartphone buyers don't really care about having a fancy set of headphones with their smartphones, and it took the relatively poor sales of the Rezound for HTC to figure this out. Here is a comment from Martin Fichter, an HTC product executive, regarding this:

"An accessory like the headphone doesn't factor in when someone is buying a smartphone. If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly."

Everyone out their raise your hand and sound off in the thread if you could have told them that before they spent $300 Million dollars to figure it out. Perhaps they should fire their marketing consultants...

Source: AndroidTablets.net via CNet

 

[rowdyguy124]

My wife absolutely loves her beats audio headphones with her Rezound. She would do it all over again.

 

[BenLand150]

Good.

I have Beats(most of my track team does, more for show lol), but I know all they really do is increase bass and volume. If anything phones should start including some Audio Technica's or something. I use those for long rides and stuff, cheaper and better. With beats you're honestly buying for the brand. But I'll be honest, I absolutely LOVE the style.

 

[LoudRam]

I love the Beats headphones but that wasn't a factor at all in buying the Rezound. It was a "Oh that's a nice little add on". The two biggest factors were the price ($50) and the reviews from the members in here. I think HTC did a poor job marketing the phone. It's a great phone, solid all the way around but all you heard was Thunderbolt this and Thunderbolt that on the TV. HTC dropped the ball on this one. They have no one to blame but themselves for the poor sales.

 

[Dave12308]

I'd assume this was the result of some sort of marketing survey, something along the lines of "If the HTC Rezound had launched without an included pair of beats headphones, would you have still purchased it?"

The majority said they'd still buy it, so HTC gets to save a ton of money.

Take myself, for instance. I hate in-ear headphones, so if I had gone with the Rezound, i'd have given the headphones away, or tossed them into my "pile-'o-earbuds (tm)"

If anything, including a pair of hip-hop influenced headphones may have caused some professionals to shy away from the Rezound.

 

[kodiak799]

I love earbuds, but as "in-ear" headphones the Beats headset is a fail.

 

[Kag Pirate]

I and my wife have the Rezound we love the phone but the headphones lack. Lack as staying in the ear even with the different size in ear padded foam holders. They sound great and I love the sound that comes from them, but I found Kross head phones just about the same as the iBeats. Price tag 24.99 for the Kross to the 100.00 price tag.......:question: I also been using my other head phones I have and the sound is almost to the same level of the iBeats. Cool add on, but I could have done with out them. Phone rocks and love the rooting of this phone made it even more of a great buy.

Side note, I did lean away from this but a few on this forum said it was a great phone. I was shock to say they was right and I think even better then the Razr (my opinion). I do think HTC drop the bomb on this one and banked to much into iBeats as a sale point. My Droid did great on sound and I was happy so, HTC move on and just improve other points of the next Gens phones.

 

[Xplorer4x4]

I personally care about the audio quality. It doesnt have to be Beats for me, but having a really good sound chip in the phone would be nice, and a pair of quality headphones to boot wouldnt hurt.

 

[Insidious]

Good.

I have Beats(most of my track team does, more for show lol), but I know all they really do is increase bass and volume. If anything phones should start including some Audio Technica's or something. I use those for long rides and stuff, cheaper and better. With beats you're honestly buying for the brand. But I'll be honest, I absolutely LOVE the style.

WOO, Audio technica's rock!

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using DroidForums

 

[Malkavian]

I personally didn't buy the phone for the Beats headset, it was just a nice add on. I didn't like the in ear design but have gotten used to it and like it now. It does block a lot of noise from the outside. HTC should have been pushing the features of the phone. The processor is better and faster than the Thunderbolt, it has the same Ram, 1GB and the same internal memory but the Rezond can handle up to 32GB esternal storage. All the commercials I saw for the Rezound kept pushing the beats audio, that's fine, show us other stuff. I think HTC should have pushed that 300 mil into better batteries or making Sense more customizable for the user.

 

[tc1]

It was a pointless move since all things point to wireless Bluetooth headsets anyway.

Yes, they are nice...not worth $100 though. Having cords running down to your phone is a pain.

Should have used the money to include bigger batteries.

I used the beats earbuds maybe 3 times before I went back to my LG tones.


Sent from my ADR6425LVW using DroidForums

 

[acousticshade]

Gotta agree with most of the postings here. The phones AREN'T worth $100, but they are very nice - probably the nicest set I own.

The marketing for this phone just stank! I saw Razr ads & GNEX ads everywhere, but only a handfull of Rezound ads (except in the Saturday night live skit where they mentioned the phone like 4 times I think, lol). The sad thing is that this phone was the most bang for your buck IMO when compared with the other two Tier 1 phones during the holidays. It had an arguably better processor, screen and camera. The GNEX had ICS and the Razr was super thin, but the Rezound had cool headphones. Cool headphones don't sell a phone, I can buy those anywhere.

I hardly knew anything about the Rezound until I started playing with it in the store and the clerk said, "hey, do you know those come with a $100 pair of headphones." Once I was sold on the screen and camera, the headphones probably tipped the scale for me, but it was a combination of factors on why I chose to buy it. Instead of marketing this as a $300 MP3 player, they should have said, "hey, here's a top of the line 4G phone, with the best screen AND camera and, what the heck, we'll give you these $100 headphones for free."

At $50, this should be a no brainer. Again, though, where's the advertising!? Come on HTC & Verizon, if people knew about this phone they would buy it!

 

[52brandon]

Beats are a bit of a gimmick. Monster makes em, they make some great headphones, but the Beats aren't one of em. They're just really bass heavy. They've got thinner cords and the overall build quality isn't exactly amazing. I've got a pair of the Turbine Pro Coppers, they're amazing, better quality and range, not as heavy bass, but I can just get in my car and turn my amp up if I wanna punish my ears for a bit