How HTC Can Get Its Groove Back

Mike Stenger
March 18, 2013

HTC

Around the summer of 2010, my contract was coming to an end and the HTC EVO 4G on Sprint was very appealing. Touted as “America’s first 4G phone”, it featured a large display and great specs at the time. I desperately wanted this phone and every Sprint store, Radioshack, or online store, was out of stock for four to six weeks. With my contract ending in just a couple weeks, the options were simple: Either buy the EVO 4G for full price and then some due to demand, or just grab a Blackberry. Unfortunately, an outdated BlackBerry Curve it was.

In the Spring of 2011, I finally got my hands on a slightly used EVO 4G. It was a great investment and I was even using it up until the fall of last year before I was due for an upgrade, going with the Samsung Galaxy S III. Fast forward to now and HTC has taken quite a hit because it doesn’t have quite the zing or product support as we’d seen in the past. In fact, over the last several years, declining profits and market share have pushed the Taiwanese company further down the list. Earlier this year, CEO Peter Chou blamed poor marketing as the reason for their decline. However, he said the same thing last year and nothing really changed.

Samsung has quickly grown to be the world’s number one Android manufacturer, capturing a massive 40% of all Android smartphones and tablets. They capitalized on HTC’s poor marketing and lack of clear vision with a product line. In 2012 alone, Samsung spent $401 million advertising its mobile devices in the US. In today’s marketplace, great devices do not sell themselves: great marketing does. By comparison, HTC cut its advertising budget by 45%. It’s pretty clear that Samsung’s advertising push is paying off, then again, they’re selling devices like hotcakes which makes it much easier to invest so much money. What makes Samsung’s latest flagship device particularly appealing isn’t the specs but the software features.

At Unpacked 2013, the South Korean giant really pushed its new software features from Smart Scroll eye-tracking technology to new sensors that work with S Health to help users stay more active. When you break it down, the Galaxy S 4 and HTC One have very similar specs: 1080p HD display, quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, up to 64GB of storage, and so on. In all reality, trying to sell the One based on specs and quality isn’t going to cut it. HTC announced a slew of new features as well and they need to utilize those as selling points. I personally think the One is a higher quality phone as opposed to the Galaxy S 4, but consumer’s are going to buy the phone that gives them the most features. Samsung clearly wins in that category, and is something HTC needs to change in the near future.

The One seems to recapture the special feeling the EVO 4G had and with its interesting features such as Zoe and Boom Sound and that’s what mainstream consumers really care about. This is where their focus needs to be instead of bashing Samsung in some desperate attempt to grab attention. At this stage of the game, HTC simply can’t revert to their old ways of talking and not doing. With the One hitting US carriers towards the end of March and the Galaxy S 4 not launching until the end of April, they do stand a chance of selling a good amount before the inevitable rush of Samsung fans upgrade. However, HTC might not have enough new features to attract enough consumers.

Can HTC recapture the consumer’s attention? It’s anyone’s guess at this point. Maybe Peter Chou is serious this time. While highlighting the One’s features are important, one can’t forget that it all comes down to marketing. Sure, HTC isn’t profiting hand over fist, but they’ll have to reach deep into their pockets to make it happen, and I hope they do.

About the Author: Mike Stenger

Tech lover and enthusiast, I've been using Android since the original EVO 4G. When I'm not here writing, you can find me yapping away on social media.

RTWright

The HTC One only has better material build, nothing more, nothing less. Without the SDCard and Removable Battery, they hold nothing on anyone that offers that. That’s called being consumer friendly and not taking away such options. That’s all HTC has done SINCE they introduced the Evo 4G over 2 years ago. Every device they’ve put out after it, has been more and more options being taken away from the user.

People say they don’t need SDCards, that’s fine if a certain few feel that way. But answer me this, what happens in the case of a complete factory reset being needed to fix an issue? Well since you can’t remove their internal card, you lose ALL of that data and files, nothing you can do but back it all up on your PC or a stupid Cloud Storage. Then when your battery fails? Oh trust me it can fail and if it does? It’s taking it to the store to get one or mail off your device. These are BIG selling points that a lot of people really do pay attention to.

Sony offers this on all of their latest devices, so does people like Asus and many other OEM’s. Thing is, if you wish to compete against or with Samsung, you’re going to have to offer EVERYTHING they do and MORE! You can’t cheap your way out of it, that will not work and THAT is why HTC is where they are. All they’re doing is producing iDroids just like Google’s Nexus line….. Which will never compete against Samsung enough to amount to anything but a Dev Device.
- RobertNazarian
  
  I agree the microSD slot and removable battery are nice touches, but contrary to popular belief, they don’t sell phones. Samsung doesn’t even mention them in their commercials. Everything has always been about software features not hardware, with the exception of screen size. Apple has sold a ton of phones without a removable battery or a microSD slot. Those items are for a small, and I mean small segment of the population. Bottomline is the GS4 has 15 or so new sotfware features and the HTC One has barely a handful.
  - RTWright
    
    The problem with that scenario is, Samsung gives it and no one else does. They outsell everyone in Android because of options, regardless of hardware or software they rule #1 even over Apple. Apple, was able to do this because they were the first BIG company to put out a device like the iPhone. Apple has ALWAYS been proprietary with every single thing they’ve ever made! So why stop now? Android has always been about freedom of choice and consumer friendly devices.
    
    To say it doesn’t sell phones is to really believe that the consumers by and large are idiots that only follow gimmicky laden commercialism that is spewed out and forced on them all the time. While that case may be true for a large percentage, there are those of us that does not work on. Not to mention, people are starting to take note of how little difference one device is from another. HTC has been the worlds worst company in this regard as I said, they’ve done nothing but remove features from devices since the Evo 4G. They did not support that device as they should have and it quickly turned into nothing but lame excuses given by them later on as to why.
    
    HTC is the one in question here, NOT Apple! HTC is the one that has continued dropping in sells and it’s not just because they don’t spend the same amount on advertising. Yes they made a good product, but their support and reputation built off of it has hurt them just as muck as their lack of media presence if not more.
    
    As for the Micro SDCard that you feel doesn’t sell phones. It was a key point in a lot of sells long before the iPhone, long before Android. My Motorola Razr flip phone had one, as did many others. People wanted that so they could put music on them and not have to carry several different devices around. To say this is not a sell point, is wrong. Think again, do your homework, because obviously you’re following this trend and supporting it yourself.
    
    I’m for all devices having it, regardless if the chosen purchaser uses it or not. It does not cost that much to add it, it doesn’t hurt anything and at least that option would be there if they later chose that they did want to use it. What I find wrong about your statement is you’ve seemed to forgotten there are a lot of hardcore users out there that would chose anyone over HTC given hardware as well as software options.
    
    By your way of thinking, hardware doesn’t matter. So heck, lets put a phone out with only 512MB of internal RAM and only 1GB of internal storage and a 1Ghz single core processor. I bet you’d find quickly that people DO pay attention to hardware a LOT more than you give them credit for. It’s called an educated consumer and there are millions of them.
    
    Bottom line is? You’re quite mistaken in your way of thinking!
    - RobertNazarian
      
      Alright well wait a minute. A microSD card on a RAZR flip phone is completely different. Already noted before that the average person doesn’t need more than 16GB of storage. AT&T found that in their studies before the One X was launched. Besides, Motorola and Sony have microSD cards, if that’s so important, why the hell aren’t they selling more phones? Marketing and software features, that’s why!!!
      
      Hardcore users are not what companies should be catering too. It so happens Samsung is able to do appease both, but HTC’s issues are not that they didn’t cater to the hardcore. Their problems are that they didn’t cater to the mainstream. Would you rather sell 10% of the population or 90%? When you think about it, they didn’t cater to anyone and that’s where they failed. They were too worried about how Sense looked and all the little refinements instead of coming up with marketable software features like Samsung did.
      
      We aren’t saying hardware doesn’t matter. We are saying hardware doesn’t sell phones in that consumers don’t pay attention to it so much. Mention quad-core or dual-core to the average person and it goes over their head. Besides a big portion of Android’s market share is from low to mid-range phones, not the high-end.
  - Indydi
    
    The microSD and removable battery were precisely the two reasons my brother bought the S3. Those same reasons will have me buying either the S4 or Note II in April. Specs are similar across several brands, so when you have those two benefits added on top, it’s an easy decision.
    - RobertNazarian
      
      For your brother and yourself, but again, you’re in the minority. I remember when they used to give pre-installed microSD cards with phones, like the DROID X. People didn’t even know that they were in the phone.
      - RTWright
        
        I’ve lost all respect for you Mr. Nazarian, not that you’ll care you’re too much of a Steve Jobs type. You think because AT&T or whatever stupid company comes up with some statistical numbers that people don’t count?? Let me educate you sir! You obviously need it. How many PC users do you think that are out there that use Custom Built vs Pre-Built by Sony, HP, etc? I bet you’d be completely taken aside as to how those numbers would appear IF they could ACTUALLY be tallied accurately…..
        
        So how the hell do you think AT&T comes up with theirs accurately? I’ll tell you if you could 100% get every person on their service and as well others to give you an answer to rather or not they want SDCards on their devices? You MIGHT be surprised just how many would prove YOU and all the idiots that think like this, wrong you are. There is no damn difference in the flip phones of the past, as well the Blackberry and others that ALL had them! You going to sit there and tell me that the Blackberries wouldn’t have upset some people not having it? Eh….
        
        Sorry, but your argument is just as sad as that fool from Google. All I can say is, people DO pay attention to more than just cosmetic values of the bullshit bloatware that Samsung and others put on their devices that would not be supported if Android itself didn’t already have that built into it. All they do is put their twist on it. Software should NEVER be the focus of a purchase because that is what keeps the innovation down on the hardware end of things. And lets face it, HARDWARE is what makes SOFTWARE able to run, without it you got nothing. So it is far more important that the hardware specs live up to the expectations of the consumer. The way you talk it’s not ever important.
        
        And as for why Sony and Motorola hasn’t been? Well lets see, Motorola recently taken over by Google, I’m sure at some point here their iDroids will be pumping out. You don’t buy a Major OEM to sit on it and do nothing, Google has plans for them I’m pretty damn sure. As for Sony? Hell half of what Sony does never gets released in the US when it comes to their flagship devices. If the Experia Z was released here and put to the media ( Lets face it, Sony could easily do it just as good as Samsung ) I feel it would have given Samsung something to think of.
        
        Maybe you should go to work for Apple Mr. Nazarian, you talk, type, think and behave like one of those types. You definitely do not care how you present yourself when someone challenges how you feel about your little niche side of life. There are a lot more than you in this world and I promise, there are a lot more than myself and a few others that DO care what hardware is on our devices.
        
        RobertNazarian
        
        Seem like you’re taking my comments personal as in you think I am saying that you are the average consumer. You aren’t. You’re a smart dude who knows way more about technology then the average Joe. That’s why you read blogs like this and make comments. But you are in a minority and for some reason you take that as an insult and you also think I am insulting everyone else in the world. The average Joe doesn’t have the time or interest to keep up with technology like we do. That’s why Apple is so successful.
        
        I am not even an AT&T customer so why would you think I think they are God or respect them over anyone else. They did a study and talked to me about it. What do you want me to do, not cite it because you don’t agree with it. I agreed with their findings, you don’t have to.
        
        As to your comments on Motorola, your thoughts about Google taking them over and soon iDROIDs will be pumped out has nothing to do with what I said. I said they haven’t BEEN successful. Your thought is people care so much about microSD slots, yet Motorola has been unsuccessful. As to Sony, correct, they are not in the U.S. Why? if there phones are so great wouldn’t carriers be begging for them? Don’t we need more phones with microSD slots in them for all these consumers that are needing them badly?
        
        Lastly, stop saying I said people don’t care about specs. I said specs don’t sell. Over the last two years, pick any timeframe. All the high-end phones had similar specs, mid-level and so on. For example, most high-end phones right now have 1080p, 4.7 to 5-inch displays, quad-core and so on. Last year it was 720p displays. What drives people to a particular phone? Other than the build quality, the HTC One and Galaxy S 4 are similar phones (and yes no removable battery and microSD). The answer is marketing. Samsung has commercials everywhere constantly. Again these commercials aren’t based on removable batteries or microSD cards. They are on S Beam, and all that stuff. All features that probably aren’t used all that much, but they get the consumer excited. HTC failed because they didn’t concentrate on a brand and they lacked marketable features. They were more concerned on the look of Sense rather than offering people things that were different.
        
        I am not the niche, you are and it just so happens Samsung is catering to you and that’s a good thing. You have a need that most people don’t require and Samsung provides a product that takes care of that.
        
        BTW, all of this talk is based on phones ONLY. When it comes to storage on tablets, I believe more is necessary. That’s where movies come into play and top level games require a lot of space.
      - Major_Pita
        
        Who the hell made you the expert on this topic? Just shut the hell up and stop telling everyone that voices their opinion on SD cards and replaceable batteries that “they are the minority”. Here’s a more obvious clue: Nobody here cares what you think – you self-important dick.
        
        RobertNazarian
        
        You have your opinions and I have mine. If you don’t want to hear mine, go somewhere else.
        
        Major_Pita
        
        From the posts I’m seeing here several people would like you to go somewhere else. This whole comments has been turned into your cult of opinion. Your point in response to Indydi “remember when they used to give pre-installed microSD cards with phones, like the DROID X. People didn’t even know that they were in the phone.” What people? A few people? Most people? All people? Where do you get your data points from? Anyone who posts their opinion here on this subject is dismissed with “you’re in the minority”. Well consider this – he might be in the minority, but that does not mean that he and people like him (myself included) don’t influence other’s buying decisions. I don’t see anyone being able to post anything even to another poster, without you feeling you having to respond and ‘dismiss’ them. Your name doesn’t appear as having written the article. Ah crap… YOU are the moderator?
        
        OK, I get it. Your website and a few others seem to have decided to come to the aid of HTC. Fine – a noble gesture. I like HTC too. And I would consider the HTC One if it weren’t for the fact that they stubbornly stick to their policy of no expandable storage and a permanently sealed batteries. So your point regarding storage is most people don’t care. That may have been the case before unlimited data plans started disappearing. You cite AT&T’s study prior to the One X launch. The problem with that is when you want a response that SD cards don’t matter it’s easy to shade the questions asked in the study. AT&T knew at the time of the One X launch that they were going to pull unlimited data plans. That’s also why they chose to sell the 16GB version of the One X, which as it turned out only had 11GB available for user storage. For a device that they were heavily promoting the camera/video capabilities it had? They deliberately manipulated the customers into cloud storage knowing that they stood to reap the benefits of that data bandwidth to/from cloud storage, so they stacked the deck. If AT&T had asked this question: ” which would you prefer, the ability to keep more pictures, videos, and music on your phone in a memory card, or would you prefer to have to store it in the cloud – and oh, by the way we will charge you for everything you upload, download and stream every time you want to access it? How many customers would have said “sure I don’t care, charge me”? As result, the sales of the One X sank when customers started seeing unlimited plans disappear and they figured out how little storage 11GB really is. This on top of the fact that most single volume devices use MTP as a transfer protocol which is unbelievably slow compared USB Mass Storage, so even if they wait to get to a WiFi network or until they can plug in a USB cable to a computer, they are penalized again by the slow transfer times. You ever try to move 10 to 20 GB of music/pix/videos over MTP? The ONLY reason people “don’t care” is they don’t know what questions to ask and companies like AT&T stand to make much more money by staying silent on the issue.
        
        Now, as to the replaceable battery issue. If customers were told: If you buy this phone, you cannot change the battery. Every time you recharge the battery it charges just a little less. By the time your 2 year contract is up you will lose 30 to 50 percent of your run time, and you’re stuck with it. Now do you still want this phone? Or do you want this XXX phone that has replaceable batteries? Do you think they would care?
        
        HTC makes beautiful devices, especially the One. But they doggedly stick to failed specs. It would not be so damning if it were one or the other – the battery issue or the SD card issue. But they continue both.
        
        And it doesn’t matter how pretty the devices are if they continue to suffer from the same two flaws. Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results is one clinical definition of insanity. HTC is slowly slipping away and they refuse to change. And stop saying customers won’t care about the SD/battery issues. They care a lot if they even know the right questions to ask.
        
        RobertNazarian
        
        I love this, “what makes you the expert” thing. I have an opinion and you have an opinion. These are opinions. I don’t have “Expert” next to my name.
        
        I also love that when I refer to you or anyone else as the minority, they take it personal and as some sort of criticism. I am in the minority too. Most of our regular readers (and readers from similar sites) are in the minority. You need to go to your local carrier store and talk to some of the people buying phones. I think you will find that most people aren’t “in the know” like yourself.
        
        We will just have to agree to disagree. You think HTC is losing money because they don’t have microSD slots and removeable batteries. I think it has more to do with lack of features and marketing. I think I am right and you think you’re right. Thankfully I don’t own stock in HTC and hopefully you don’t either.
- http://www.mikestenger.com/ Mike Stenger
  
  Doesn’t HTC still have that partnership with Dropbox for 25GB of free storage? I understand some people don’t trust storing their data in the cloud, but that is a nice incentive since you can also access the data from other devices. You do make a good point about the battery. Never have been a fan of non-removeable batteries, but I’m in the 1% or so of hardcore Android users.
  - http://www.facebook.com/robbie.charmbury Robbie Charmbury
    
    I prefer to have both cloud and micro sd storage. It’s not a strictly either or situation people. With micro SD its ready right there. I don’t have to worry about app memory storage limits, and I can use the cloud to augment my micro SD. Again there is no rule limiting you to just the cloud, and you can have micro sd in the event of bad coverage or natural disaster or other possibility where you can’t access cloud storage.
    
    But lets say most consumers don’t care about these two things for arguments sake. What are the other Droid OEM’s like HTC and Sony doing appeal to and attract the general consumer.
SmithTech

“Those items are for a small, and I mean small segment of the population. ”
This is true, the truly intelligent segment. Its a known fact that these batteries start to lose there capacity after about a year with some losing capacity after as little as 8 months and ALL major carrier in the US tie you into a 2 year contract. Not to mention who really has money to waste buying a new phone every year anyway. HTC is just looking to make money on your NEXT phone with this tactic.
The sd card is an arguable point with new phones coming with 32 and 64 GB, as I am not big on movies or music I can still fit ALL of my data in less than 40 GB.
The battery is a deal killer for anyone who is intelligent and financially responsible. But these are a small group, 90% care more about the”bling”
- http://www.mikestenger.com/ Mike Stenger
  
  “The battery is a deal killer for anyone who is intelligent and financially responsible.” So what does that say about iPhone users? Sorry, the joke was too easy :-)
  - SmithTech
    
    Exactly! But its no joke. Every iPhone user I know paid full price for either the 4S or the 5 because they were only halfway through a 2 year contract. Seriously who can afford to throw 600.00 away on a phone your only going to replace in a year.
    - RTWright
      
      If people are that gullible to feel that they have to upgrade every year then the old saying “A fool and their money is soon parted!” stands without saying. See, the vast majority of the consumers I will admit are suckers for the advertising. They believe hype first and forget to go and read second. The differences between each of the iPhone models is enough to call being ripped off for even looking at them.
      
      As far as myself, I could use my SIII for a lot longer than just a year or two, it’s a pretty well built device. It was my upgrade over my original Evo4G which was sadly supported by HTC, they gave the lamest of excuses why they wouldn’t even update it to ICS. So once you go through something like that, you wait and wait and wait till someone finally releases something that you feel is a worthy upgrade. The Evo had a lot going for it, which was why I held onto it for well over two years till I had the money to upgrade to the GSIII.
      
      After all I dealt with HTC over that Evo, no way would I ever go back to them. As for the battery? Yes I demand the ability to be able to pull the back off and put a replacement or upgraded battery into my device. I should not have to send it off, take it to a store, to do something that is nothing more than pulling the back off, pulling one out and putting the other in. If you have problems understanding how to do that? Then obviously there is something wrong and it’s not the device, it’s the person who can’t understand simple mechanics.
      
      I never bought into Apple’s iPhone system at all. Even when they first came out, I had friends that got them and ended up complaining a lot about them. One of them the battery did go out, another the screen went out ( NOT much you can do there on any device but take it in ). One of the biggest complaints was one that got tired of having his iPod and iPhone, when he wanted his iPhone to do it all it didn’t have enough storage. Guess what? To upgrade he’d need to upgrade his device, not only could he not do it through adding it himself, but he had to buy a new device and couldn’t because the carrier says you can’t upgrade at this time in your contract…..!
      
      That right there was enough to tell me to stay clear of the iPhone! But so many people are Apple Lemmings, so much success with their iPod, that it was clear that Apple was going to be successful with the iPhone. But like all Apple products, it’s proprietary and that put the roadblock up for me and I stayed clear. I had a Blackberry Bold and was good till the Androids hit. Now all the OEM’s except for Samsung, Sony and Asus ( Few others here and there ) have all gone iDroid on us, so that means my OEM choices are fewer which is fine by me!
- RobertNazarian
  
  So you need 40GB of storage? Sorry you’re in the minority. In talking with AT&T reps last year when the One X was launched, they said studies show that the average user doesn’t need more than 16GB. All my pictures are in Dropbox and all my music is in Google Music and on my own server via Subsonic. Movies would be the only other need for storage and I reserve that to a tablet. There just isn’t a need for a lot of storage for most people.
  - SmithTech
    
    They may not use it now. But they will, just like data the average just keeps going up. And just like data that was unlimited until everyone was hooked the the cost for there crack err data went up. The freeby deals your getting now on cloud storage will be gone as well and you will have to pay for cloud storage. The HTC and Samsung deals are only for two years, what will you do with your pictures then? The average user if they have dropbox only have 2 to 3 GB without the deals from the phone manufacturer.
    
    But thats not even the point I was making. ALL of my personal data on my computer fits on 40 GB. And yes I carry most of it with me. But the point was that the sd card may be an arguable point because if I can keep nearly all of my data on a 32 GB internal memory than there really is no eed for an sd card. Most people will not need that much space. But again there is the big YET. And when they do they will be paying for the no longer free cloud storage because their phones will no longer have sd cards because today are saying you’ll never need it.
    Just remember what they said when the first 500 MB hard drive came out. So don’t let phones without sd cards become the norm, stop the trend now and don’t buy one.
    - RTWright
      
      The problem is, Cloud Storage is out of your control. You’re giving up all of your control to a company that could easily one day, lose it all for you for any given reason. You hope their backups can and should restore it, but that’s never a 100% guarantee. The other problem is, cloud based systems are very easily disrupted when it comes to Videos and or Music. Ever watch YouTube and have it stop? Yeah, all because of signal disruption, rather it’s weather, distance or location. So no, I do not buy into this Cloud being the answer for all.
      
      I have a DropBox, Box and one or two others. But you know what I use them for? For clients to exchange files with me while I work on their designs and or photographs. They do not stay on those systems for permanent backup. I do that myself on DVD’s and file them away off of the Computer or on my microSD’s for taking with me to show a client my work via my device. So this is why I speak and stand up against people like Mr. Nazarian here, for their Apple way of thinking.
      - RobertNazarian
        
        What are you talking about? Apple way of thinking? Just because I use Dropbox doesn’t mean I don’t have my stuff backed up. Dropbox is not a backup system, it’s a convenience system. Everything that I care to have is backed up is backed up.
        
        It’s fine that you don’t agree with me, but saying I have an Apple way of thinking is crazy. I have never ever owned an Apple product, and don’t care to.
      - http://www.mikestenger.com/ Mike Stenger
        
        I understand where you’re coming from about cloud storage. It is out of your control. However, I think you underestimate the efficiency of today’s systems. There are redundancies in place so the likelihood of you losing all your data is very unlikely. Also, what happens if your home catches on fire and gets to your DVDs or microSD cards? They become liquid and then harden into a goop of plastic. As long as a cloud storage service stays in service, your files will always be there. Not to mention, you can access your files whenever, wherever.
  - RTWright
    
    Oh here we go with Google Music now, which literally sucks! It’s not dependable, it can be interrupted far too damn easily, you get less playback quality out of it than you would with PowerAmp ( Which I’ve used from day one! ). You also have lag issues a lot with Google Music, get into a place where you have crappy signal, again will not work. Oh there is PLENTY of reasons for not using Google Music. Cloud based systems like Google Music are not dependable one bit.
    
    I’m a Photographer, so I carry a lot of files around and sometimes store different files on different cards as a filing system as they do not take up a lot of to store them. In that regard yes, even I know I’m probably one of few to do that and NO WAY IN HELL will I trust my work to a cloud based system. Also I love a lot of music, I mean a LOT of it! I have well more than 16GB of files including some videos on my device. I’d suffice to say that I could live with 16GB of Internal space for Apps and the OS files and structure, but I would always want my Personal Data and Music Files on an EXTERNAL device just like I do with my PC at home. You seem to think AT&T is some kind of GOD that knows what EVERYONE out here needs and wants and should dictate it as such.
    
    HTC failed not only due to taking these options away from us on their devices, but they failed because they had very bad support for any of their devices up till recently and are continuously one of the most bloated user interface systems on the market. Now they’re copying Microsoft’s Windows 8 UI, oh I’m certain that one will sell well… By your way of thinking, it’s already failed because Microsoft sure didn’t do well with it. Oh wait, it has to be AT&T to say this not Microsoft! ;p
    - RobertNazarian
      
      When it comes to music, it’s always the 80/20 rule. Again the majority of people don’t have 50GB+ of music. And even if they did, the 80/20 rule would mean they regularly listen to 10GB of music. So again, the average person doesn’t need a lot of store for music.
      
      You basically said you’re an exception to the rule and that’s fine. You want to keep a lot of of photos on your devices and that’s okay. Exceptions to the rule don’t drive sales.
Indydi

I am truly disgusted with HTC’s slamming of Samsung. Who are they to criticize a successful giant like Samsung? In my quest to find my next phone I was willing to look at all brands except Apple, but HTC’s immaturity and history of lousy decision-making has ruled them out too.
- http://www.mikestenger.com/ Mike Stenger
  
  Come on now, it wasn’t that bad. Did come off as desperate and hopefully they realize that. Focusing on making sure the One is a success should be their top priority right now. Not bashing a competitor which in turn raises awareness about the competition, possibly sending a few more sales their way.
RTWright

This will be my last post about this on this article and probably ever on this site as I see that certain people here have less concerns here about some things than others. This site is only one of many I frequent, but is one of few I even bother posting or responding to. Nazarian’s attitude about all of this pretty much negates his own policies of not taking things personally and that there is the fact there will be someone that disagrees with you and will challenge you on all levels.

This is basically it, HTC will not recoop anything that they may have had in their glorious past until they compete completely with Samsung on all levels. At the end of the day, it is HTC’s own fault that they are where they are now, down in sales and losses across the board. I don’t care what they make their devices out of, how much fluff they put in a device, they cannot compete till they bring themselves to the level of Samsung and others.

My feelings are not just my own, I see my very same opinions shared across the board. A lot of times I see such responses removed as they were posted on company sites ( The OEM’s and I witnessed it first hand a lot on HTC’s website ). To put it frankly, the microSD option is very valuable to a lot of people, not just me. AT&T cannot by themselves come up with an accurate assessment of this at all, their numbers are inaccurate by and large as not 100% of smartphone users are on their service or even probably taken a part in their so called study. These case studies are always skewed, so you cannot take them seriously.

The other thing I pointed out that got lost in all this strife is that it is not costly to put the option on any device, it’s cheap. As long as it’s there, it will either get used or not, but does not drive the manufacturing cost up at all. Cloud Storage is a means to an end, it is not a preferred storage system, that’s the Media talking, not actual users. I’ve heard that the microSD’s piss people off ( That is a direct quote from Nazarian in one post ), but why would something like that have such an effect on anyone? You either use it or you don’t, it’s not forcing anyone to use them but it IS giving the option for those that want it to have it. So that I found rather absurd to comment like that, which is why the idiot from Google got a lashing on G+ when he spouted off about it.

As for my being a minority? Prove it! Because like I said, you can’t accurately take account for any of these so called studies, they’re always wrong. They never ever have been accurate enough to take any of them seriously. You can’t even prove how many like me there are in this world, because there is NO WAY TO ACCURATELY ACCOUNT FOR THEM! See? Even I couldn’t give that proof, there is no way for me to gather that kind of accurate statistics. AT&T and any other large company, people take them too dang seriously because they don’t read between the lines.

Yes, the vast majority of the human race is a bunch of bungling morons because they’re as gullible as they come. If it’s on TV, in the Media at all, then it has to be right? Well a large amount of our population follows what they see in Ads because today’s generation does not educate themselves. I’ve seen it in Retail a long time, I worked it for well over 20 years. My job in most cases was to help them find the right product to meet their needs, 90% would always come in with a preconceived idea about what products were the best vs others. It’s even worse today.

If it was upsetting so many based on ease of access then all they have to do is put the slot on the outside / side of the devices like they do on the tablets. As for tablets being more needed of this? No I feel it’s the same, because believe it or not, people watch videos on there HTC One’s and X’s and whatever they come out with, same with GS series and just about any other smartphone. So why it should be based only off of tablets is beyond me. Point is, if Samsung can do it, so can HTC and others like them. It sure isn’t hurting anyone it being there, it sure isn’t hurting Samsung’s sales, so why should HTC and others be any different? I still can’t believe Nazarian is so hard headed and stubborn to believe in some stupid thing AT&T did.
RonD45

The sad thing is HTC needs all the sales they can get. By removing the replaceable battery option, the SD card option, inadequate RAM to allow multitasking, inadequate storage, locked up system, etc they are leaving a lot of potential sales on the table. Each reason may be a small percentage, but when you add them up they become significant.

They need to take a lesson from there most successful phone, the EVO 4G, and add back the SD card, replaceable battery, and make the phone developer friendly.

It really is pretty stupid to buy a battery powered device of any kind without a replaceable battery. Would you buy a power drill that had a built in battery that couldn’t be replaced?