HTC Blames 2012's Lack of Success on Marketing

Smartphone manufacturer HTC has blamed 2012's lackluster performance in the smartphone market on a lack of marketing. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, HTC CEO Peter Chou said he believes the "worst for HTC has probably passed."

"Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing," he said, referring to the company's struggle to succeed in the smartphone market last year. "We haven't done enough on the marketing front."

Although HTC experienced a solid 2011, sales and market share failed to reflect the same success the following year. Back in October of 2012, the company announced a 79 percent decrease in profits since 2011.

The Taiwanese firm, which lately promised better smartphones due to its licensing agreement deal with Apple, reported its lowest quarterly net profit figures since 2006. It made $133 million during 2012's third quarter; comparatively, it made $633 million during the same period in 2011.

HTC is currently said to be working on its high-end, quad-core M7 smartphone, which is set for a CES reveal this week. The firm is also rumored to be preparing two Windows RT tablets, including the first 7-inch tablet powered by Microsoft's OS.

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  • halcyon
    Marketing? They think it was because of their lack of marketing? Looks like HTC is in denial.
    Reply
  • Maybe they should look at there phones. They used to have top of the line phones.
    Reply
  • LordConrad
    Marketing, really? Stop making phones with unchangeable batteries and no microSD card slots and sales should increase. It's not rocket science.
    Reply
  • should have made a qwerty keyboard phone.....
    Reply
  • kinney
    1 word: Thunderbolt.

    FU HTC.
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    Most people in my area had never even heard of HTC until after 2009... And then they seemed to have a reputation of being rock solid reliable.
    But they didn't build on that. Yeah, it was poor marketing with mediocre products that hurt them.
    Reply
  • cknobman
    LordConradMarketing, really? Stop making phones with unchangeable batteries and no microSD card slots and sales should increase. It's not rocket science.
    Add to that getting rid of the damn Sense overlay. Its bloated, buggy, and laggy; and the reason I wont buy another one of their phones (previous owner of 3 HTC android phones).
    Reply
  • psykhe
    LordConradMarketing, really? Stop making phones with unchangeable batteries and no microSD card slots and sales should increase. It's not rocket science.
    Honestly I do not care that much about that. What kills them for me is a unchangeable *small* battery.

    If you make the battery unchangeable at least put a decently sized one in and do not go with a moronic "customers want thin phones rather than longer lasting ones" sales pitch.
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu
    I just give an example: in Romania i didnt see any HTC comercial on the TV, for Samsung Galaxy S3 i did, for Iphone 5 the comercial was not needed... to many fanboys.
    Reply
  • jn77
    If HTC is really that concerned and actually reads these comments, When I renewed my contract and saw what they were offering at that time to replace my EVO 4G, none of HTC's flagship models had user replaceable batteries (Apple Syndrome) and they got rid of the micro SDXC card slot.

    That is when I said Hello to my GS3...... end of story. It is little things like that which android power users want and why take them away?

    Whom ever made that choice at HTC needs a demotion.
    Reply