Do you remember, my dear friend, a once glorious brand like HTC? At one time, it was not just another smartphone manufacturer. They were impersonation Android. The first smartphone on this operating system was called HTC Dream. Then it fully lived up to its name and really was a dream. After 12 years, all that is known about this company is that it failed miserably, but produces the coolest virtual reality glasses. They are really appreciated, but VR alone will not be enough. It is also impossible to regain the former reputation. As a result, the company is doing worse and worse. Here's another blow to them. How much is left for them?
This smartphone was cool for its time and became a symbol of success HTC for many years to come.
Who made the first Android smartphone
The first Android smartphone was shown to the world on September 23, 2008. It came out under the brand name HTC and was named Dream. It was also produced by the T-Mobile operator under the name T-Mobile G1.
Even before the release of this smartphone, many manufacturers announced their plans to do the same. But the first is always only one and it is he who remains in history. It should be noted that the rest pulled up quite quickly and new items began to appear almost one by one.
The first smartphone on Android made in Russia was the Highscreen PP5420. This smartphone went on sale in July 2009. Few people know about it, but we didn't have to wait long for our Android – smartphone.
What is doing now HTC
The last really interesting news about HTC was the sale of the mobile unit. In 2017, Google paid $ 1.1 billion for it. At the same time, she received all intellectual property rights and began to produce Google Pixel 2 at its factories.
We can say that this is the younger brother HTC.
The latest smartphone-related news was the mountain of hype on cryptocurrencies. In May 2018, the company announced the first blockchain smartphone. It happened at the Consensus conference. An additional attempt to get publicity was the statement that a smartphone can only be bought for bitcoins or ethereum. The equivalent price was about $ 1,000.
The most interesting thing that is happening with the company now is the work on promoting the ideas of virtual reality. They make pretty good glasses HTC Vive. True, at a price of about 70,000 rubles, they hardly contribute to the promotion of the idea of virtual reality to the masses. This is a very niche product, albeit a really decent one.
HTC on the verge of failure
The company has a very positive attitude this year. Perhaps the point is in the bet that everyone will stay at home due to the coronavirus and use its products. Personally, I don't believe in that. I don’t know about you. Especially my doubts are supported by the disastrous (yet another) year for the company.
The Taiwanese company reported a seventh straight quarter in the red. Today she spoke about her financial “successes”. Revenue fell from $ 81 million in the quarter before last to $ 60 million in the last quarter, according to the report.
What's even more interesting is that there is no profit in this revenue. Instead, HTC suffered a $ 78 million loss.
This is roughly how many see the company's position.
To make it even clearer how bad the company is, we can say that the difference between revenue minus costs and expenses was -122.1 percent. A quarter earlier, the similar indicator was -98.6 percent. It was a disaster then, but now it's just … well, you get the idea. Simply put, the company is operating at a loss. At a huge loss. And this is not the first quarter. On the other hand, gross margin HTC increased from 22.9% to 25.7%, but in this case, that does not solve the problem.
In order to somehow continue to dangle legs and not go to the bottom, the company at the end of last year presented a VR headset HTC Vive Cosmos and two whole smartphones. These smartphones are Exodus 1 and Desire 19. There were also presentations last year.
At the same time, representatives HTC report that they plan to release a smartphone with support this year 5G. I doubt very much that users will run to sweep them off store shelves. Not only are there a lot of more eminent competitors, but it itself HTC no longer causes the desire to buy its smartphones, which was before.
Why HTC stopped producing smartphones
There is no direct termination of the release of smartphones by the company yet, but there are so many of them that they are easier to neglect. At one time I myself used a smartphone HTC Desire on Android 2. He did not receive the third version of the firmware, but still I really liked it. Design, stability, functionality. Everything about him was somehow harmonious. Especially against the background iPhone of the first generation, which I had before.
Many will remember how cool this company's phones were before the era of smartphones. She was never able to rebuild.
Over time, the number of successful models of the company began to decline significantly. The last smartphone that was more or less good was HTC U11. I almost liked him. He could boast of some technological solutions. For example, active faces. But in the end it didn't work out either. The company even had a development strategy, but why all this? In our Telegram chat you can express your attitude to the situation around HTC.
Personally, I am very sad to see how good companies in their time go downhill. At the same time, gaining speed and bouncing on bumps. This was the case with Motorola, Nokia and HTC. I really do not want such a failure for others. Let everyone be on the market, compete and delight us with new smartphones.