HTC Story 4: Preorders for the HTC One in the US Hit 'several hundred thousand'

[dgstorm]

Our fourth HTC story for today will likely be most appreciated by Peter Chou, HTC's CEO. The news is so good, it looks like he will probably get to keep his job. (We mention this because of our previous story in which Mr. Chou effectively "bet" his job on the success of the HTC One.) According to the latest report straight from HTC, pre-orders for the HTC One in the U.S. have reached "several hundred thousand." While this number probably pales in comparison to past iPhone or Galaxy preorder numbers, it is still a fantastic sign for the company. Here's a quote with more of the details,

...according to HTC president for global sales and marketing Jason Mackenzie, who gleefully announced that the flagship phone has hit the right chord with customers.

“We are seeing our strongest initial response for any smartphone we’ve ever designed with several hundred thousand people in the U.S. pre-registering to purchase the new HTC One,” wrote Mackenzie in an e-mail sent out to customers who have signed up to get the phone through HTC’s trade-up program.

Gleeful indeed. This is obviously great news for the OEM. The phone will supposedly come to U.S. carriers sometime in April. We must say we are happy for the company. Perhaps all that noise they have been making is actually getting people's attention. Regardless, the quality of the HTC One speaks for itself when you get it in hand. Several online comparisons between the HTC One and the Galaxy S4 actually give the nod to the HTC One in terms of quality of materials and more. What do you guys think? ARe any of you ready to give HTC another shot? Or, for those who are still fans of the company, shout out your support.

Source: AndroidAuthority

 

[hotice]

I'll bet if HTC would add a simple option on the One to disable "BlinkFeed" and replace it with a normal desktop page they would sell a lot more of these things. Come on HTC! Do the right thing and put out a firmware update that makes it easy to disable BlinkFeed!

 

[johnomaz]

is a several hundred thousand really a lot? I mean, the S4 has done several times the pre-orders as the S3 did and the S3 had monster sales.

 

[tgyberg]

Too small :biggrin:

 

[dgstorm]

Actually those numbers are very good because that means they are taking biz away from everyone else, and final retail sales are typically even higher than preorder numbers. As I said in the article, these numbers aren't huge compared to the competition, but are still much better than things have been for HTC over the past year.

 

[xeene]

Now if only HTC could deliver those several hundred thousands...

 

[kodiak799]

Keep in mind those pre-order numbers don't include VZW?

 

[cybertec69]

Not that I would buy the ONE, but not having the ONE on Verizon is not a good move by HTC or Verizon, especially HTC which needs every channel possible to sell their new flagship.

 

[azules9780]

Maybe Verizon didn't want that device and HTC didn't push the issue because they are counting on people leaving Verizon to go to T-Mobile or anywhere cheaper for that matter.

 

[kodiak799]

Maybe Verizon didn't want that device and HTC didn't push the issue because they are counting on people leaving Verizon to go to T-Mobile or anywhere cheaper for that matter.

People have been saying that for years. Doesn't happen and won't happen. VZW has the lowest turn in the biz, 1-2%, which is about 3-5X better than AT&T and Sprint. No idea what TMo's turn is, but probably even higher than that. VZW charge a premium because they have the best service, and for most people that's worth an extra $5 a month.