The price of HTC's uncompromising approach

HTC took the high-end route, first sold abroad and then sold domestically, but its products were too high-brow and few people liked them, so it failed miserably. Xiaomi took the low-end route, first sold domestically and then sold abroad, with good quality and low price, and became very popular. Its failure is worth discussing.

HTC seems to be rarely seen in technology news. This Taiwanese company, which rose from OEM, was the first to apply the Android system in 2011 and became famous. Subsequently, it formed the two giants in the Android camp together with Samsung. At that time, people thought that HTC was a smaller Samsung, and its market value once reached 37 billion US dollars, which is the current valuation level of Xiaomi. However, after a few years, Samsung became the leader in the smartphone industry, while HTC continued to go downhill. Its market value once fell to one-tenth of its heyday, and it has only risen moderately recently. In terms of market share, its global market share is less than 3%, and its most valued US market share has also fallen below 5%. As for China, it is less than 2%, ranking "others".

When we list the losers among mobile phone manufacturers, Nokia is mentioned first, followed by a group of teammates, Motorola, and HTC. Nokia was infected by the Ehrlich Trojan, and Motorola was destroyed by Google when it was at its peak. What was the reason for HTC?

I think it's in its strategy.

It takes a purely high-end route and rarely deploys mid- and low-end products. Apple is a high-end mobile phone, and HTC is also determined to be high-end. It was the first to make quad-core phones. Its flagship models, such as the M8, are high-end and atmospheric. It is not an exaggeration to say that it has the best workmanship. It has an all-aluminum body and a very tough shape. It is better than Apple, and it is far better than Samsung's plastic material. However, even if it is high-end, it is just an "Android system". It cannot compare with Apple in terms of natural defects at the system level. And when it comes to spending money on marketing, it cannot compare with Samsung. This is one of the reasons why HTC has not maintained its position in the industry.

At the same time, its sales strategy is to first capture overseas markets such as the United States, and then take the Chinese market into its pocket. This is often the way to go for high-end products, such as Apple. However, HTC's patents are not strong, and it was quickly driven out by Apple and Samsung in markets such as the United States where patent protection is extremely strict, and its flagship models were banned from sale. We did not see HTC's patent war, but Samsung and Apple were in full swing. HTC does not have the capital. HTC has stored troops under a strong city and cannot be conquered, and has not paid enough attention to the rapidly developing low-end and mid-end markets, such as the Chinese market. The wishful thinking and wrong strategy caused the Waterloo of its business. If the patents are not strong, it should avoid the market with extremely strict patents and start with the easy and then the difficult.

At present, HTC has already wanted to focus on the mid-to-low-end mobile phone market, and also wants to pay attention to the Chinese market. But is it too late? It should be said that the mainland mobile phone manufacturers represented by Xiaomi and China Cool Union are not inferior to HTC in strength, especially Xiaomi's cost-effective marketing model, which has been fully recognized by the market. At present, these Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are actively expanding outward, which is an "overflow" after local consolidation. They will also take the high-end route. I mentioned this in the iDoNews column "Xiaomi's New Elegant Name". What cards does HTC have to compete with mainland manufacturers? Perhaps the only advantage left is the high-end brand. Its mobile phone shell is indeed very well made, and the camera is also OK, although it only has 4 million pixels. But in other aspects, there is no advantage.

In the past, Chinese companies had to claim that they were made in the United States or imported from abroad when advertising. This was very popular more than a decade ago. But now it is not necessarily the case. China's IT industry has been fully internationalized, and Chinese brands have also risen. As a Taiwanese company, HTC is half Chinese and half foreign. How many opportunities does it have? However, Wang Xuehong is still very confident. She claims that she will not compromise on innovation. The decline in performance is just the price of innovation. HTC phones are the best smartphones in the world (in this regard, they are much more advanced than the second-best Hammer), and everything will be fine.

As a strong woman returning to the daily operations of the company, will she become a Steve Jobs or a Jerry Yang? We will have to wait and see.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.