The last couple of years have been pretty hard on HTC. After reporting growth for nearly two straight years, Q1 2013 was the worst the company has ever had, managing to net only US$2.8 million. Credit to HTC CEO Peter Chou though, even though HTC’s stock price has dropped 80% over the past 18 months, he has seemingly never lost faith in his company, even reportedly staking his job on his company’s sales.
The HTC One has done a lot to regain confidence in the Taiwanese company though, with 5 million handsets having been sold as of last month. The HTC is a truly awesome phone, and marks a return to the HTC of old – the HTC that brought us the HTC Desire and the Nexus One, two of the phones that helped define the Android that we know today.
Chou has committed to growing HTC’s market share, and is confident that given time, they will be able to return to their former glory. Chou told shareholders:
We managed to maintain a 4-percent global smartphone market share last year and we are determined to do our best to expand the percentage to 10 to 15 percent in the future. Give us some time and we will stage a comeback. We will redouble our efforts this year to further enhance our brand recognition and loyalty around the world
It does seem that HTC finally understand the point of investing in marketing, reportedly signing Robert Downey Jr to help promote the HTC One, and running a series of television commercials highlighting Blinkfeed and the Boomsound speakers on the flagship phone. If HTC have truly learned from their past mistakes, and are able to follow up the One with a worthy successor next year, then I think that Chou’s hopes are a realistic goal for the company.
What do you think? Is 15% market share a realistic estimate for HTC, or do you still think they’re done for?
