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HTC launches new design studio to create better phones

February 6, 2012 | By Surur

HTC did not have a good Q4 2012, and blames it on thicker LTE products with poor battery life (possibly the HTC TiTan II?)

Here is what HTC CFO Winston Yung said in their earnings call:

“When we look back to the 4th quarter of last year, we simply dropped the ball on products. If we compare some of the products that we have launched, (especially in the U.S., LTE products) with some of our competitors products, you’ll see thicker form factor for example. And LTE at this point also has some compromises, like battery life. So we simply need to do a better job on both the design, and also the internals and the components of products.

They however have a plan to succeed:

And these are the various areas where we will be working on. From the design point of view, from the choice of components, having a lot more open mind as to what components we use, and using the most appropriate components for the phone. By having a more focused approach to our product strategy, and having the organization behind the product strategy to support it. I think I have told some people when talked about the creation of this “Studio”, which is a department within HTC that reports directly to Peter (Chou, HTC CEO). And this group of people comprise the team from design, the team from engineering and etc; working on a cross disciplinary approach, and reporting directly to Peter. It has a lot of focus, is spending a lot of time on the key products that we are going to launch this year. And I think from these various perspectives, organization more focused on strategy and having a more open mind on components, choosing the best components, will allow us to regain the edge in products. “

Hopefully the initiative will also involve their Windows Phones, meaning we will also see super thin and super sexy Windows Phone 8 devices at the end of the year.

Via Unwiredview.com

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HTC to ship less, better models

January 26, 2012 | By Surur

HTC UK chief Phil Roberson has told MobilityToday HTC released too many models in 2011, and suffered the consequence.

‘We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much.’

He said the company will be concentrating on more on high quality, high end “hero” devices from Q2 2012.

‘So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.’

The move is however not risk free, as with less models there is a bigger effect if a phone fails to be a hit.

CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said: ‘If you rationalise your portfolio you have to deliver a ‘hero’ product, but the margin for error increases and you have fewer products to fall back on.’

IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo said HTC had ‘great’ products but it did lack the marketing spend of a company like Samsung, which closed 2011 in an impressive position.

Motorola has recently said they will adopt the same strategy of less models with more marketing attached to each device.

The change of heart is really a symptom of the malaise of all major Android OEMs except Samsung at the moment, with both Sony Ericsson and Motorola recently reporting poor sales.

HTC’s first quarter net profit fell 26% to $365m, its first quarterly decline in earnings for two years as it faced competition from Apple and Samsung’s Galaxy range.

HTC’s new Windows Phone range appears relatively optimised at present, with a high and handset, the HTC Titan and a mid-range handset, the HTC Radar, which appears to be selling well. The HTC Titan will soon however have to compete with the HTC Titan II, a near identical device with LTE and a higher resolution camera, which suggests HTC still has some work to do working on their roadmap.

Via MobileToday.com

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Highlights of Windows Phone at CES – Video

January 12, 2012 | By andrewbares

Check out our highlights video of Windows Phone as seen at CES 2012! The video includes the best scenes from Microsoft’s Keynote, Nokia’s Press Conference, hands on demos, shots of the Nokia Lumia 900, 800, 710, HTC Titan 2, and more!

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WTH! Now HTC’s YouTube app also pulled from Marketplace: Update: Still there if you search

December 22, 2011 | By Surur

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We heard this morning about MetroTube being removed from Marketplace due to a violation of Google’s APIs.

Now it seems the HTC YouTube app has also been pulled from Marketplace.

We don’t know what is behind the change, but if it is Google turning on the screws on Windows Phone 7 maybe we are not particularly impressed. We have been informed Microsoft has no response yet, but are considering their options.

Update: The app is still there if you search, but has been moved from HTC’s app section.

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ITC bans importation of HTC’s Android devices in US

December 19, 2011 | By Surur

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The ITC has solidly come down on the side of Apple, banning importation of HTC’s Android devices which violate two claims of patent #5,946,647, which is a system level patent issued in 1999 on analysing and linking data structures.

The patents implicate all of Android, and not just HTC’s implementation, which would make it difficult for HTC to remediate in the 4 months before it goes into effect on the effect on April 19, 2012 .

This of course leaves HTC with their library of Windows Phone 7 handsets in USA, which may explain the rumours of a HTC LTE Windows Phone on AT&T a mere 2 months after the HTC Titan has been released.

HTC has however said “… we are well prepared for this decision, and our designers have created alternate solutions for the ‘647 patent” but the decision may still prompt HTC to spend a bit more time on Windows Phone 7.

Report: HTC To Launch 4G LTE Windows Phone On AT&T In Early 2012

December 19, 2011 | By Pradeep

As we are expecting 4G LTE based Nokia Lumia device launch in US early next year, it seems HTC is also planning to join the party with its 4G LTE device. According to the sources of BGR, HTC is set to launch a 4G LTE device on AT&T which will be similar to HTC Titan with 4.7inch display profile. If this report is true, then we will have the much needed 4G/LTE momentum for Windows Phone in US.

Source: BGR

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HTC’s Portable Bluetooth Conference Speaker looks pretty cool

December 16, 2011 | By Surur

htc-portable-bluetooth-conference-speaker-bs-p200

If you like your gadgets cool-looking, few would come close to this portable Bluetooth conference calling speakers by HTC.

The HTC Portable Bluetooth Conference Speaker BS P100 , which is currently up for pre-order, can pair with 2 different handsets and offer up to 10 hours of conference calling or 6 hours of A2DP music playback.

Like most of HTC’s accessories it is however not very cheap, weighing in at £89.99 at Expansys here, but think how much you will impress your business colleagues when you pull this one out of your attaché case at your next impromptu meeting.

Via WindowsPhonenews.com

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HTC may ignore German patent ban, risks 250,000 euro per phone fine

November 29, 2011 | By Surur

nrd2151-i2 HTC has said it will ignore the IPCom patent complaint which was decided against the company, and which would ultimately lead to a ban in the sale of HTC handsets, including their Windows Phones ones, in Germany.

HTC said that Ipcom’s intellectual property claim had already been ruled invalid by the German Federal Patents court in December 2010, but notable experts disagree. The patents relate to how phones connect to 3G base stations.

HTC has dropped its appeal case against an earlier decision which favoured IPCom, leaving the company with a default judgement.

"Since HTC has never come up with an offer that adequately reflects the value of these patents, Ipcom has been left with no choice – we will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season," said Ipcom’s managing director, Bernhard Frohwitter.

He added that if HTC ignored the order Ipcom would ask for the phone maker to be fined.

"It’s up to the court and could go up to 250,000 euro (£213,000) per violation per phone," Mr Frohwitter said.

Ipcom said it has now told HTC that it intends to enforce the ban.

What IPCom is however after is ultimately license fees. He added that Ipcom was still willing to settle, providing HTC agreed to pay a "fair" licence fee.

HTC only sold 1.43 million phones into Germany in the last 9 months, making it an important but not vital market. It remains to be seen if HTC is willing to deal or not.

HTC: “We will focus on the product next year”

November 28, 2011 | By Pradeep

We hardly saw any new innovative design from HTC devices this year. Most of them looked almost similar with some devices being exactly same, for example HTC Titan(Windows Phone) and Sensation XE(Android). More than us, their investors are worried about HTC’s poor show this year. HTC’s shares fell over 30 percent in the last eight sessions and their CFO now says that,

“We will focus on the product next year, better and more competitive. Other than new LTE phones for the U.S. market, we also have phones for the global market. We will launch some worldwide flagship products. We’re confident in them.”

Hope they bring in some new devices for Windows Phone platform not depending too much on Android.

Source: Reuters

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HTC Windows Phones have potentially illegal Internet Sharing bug

November 20, 2011 | By Surur

Users on XDA-Developers have discovered after they received the firmware update which brings internet sharing to their devices, they have suddenly developed a dynamic MAC address, which is of course a major no-no and possibly illegal.

The Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces and is normally unchanging, except for spoofing done by hackers to circumvent security, such as MAC address filtering, where hackers change their MAC address to pretend to be another device.

It seems however after the HTC firmware update, if you want to change your MAC address on a Windows Phone all you have to do is simply reboot. The bug does not require you to actually use or activate internet sharing.

Besides being illegal, the problem can cause issues for users who are in an environment where MAC addresses are used for security, access control and to assign static IP addresses. With the address ever changing none of these measures will work very well.

Some XDA-Dev members have reported that HTC will be addressing the issue tomorrow. Till then, if you do rely on a static MAC address, it may be a good idea to decline the update when offered.

Via Professeur thibault

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Windows Phone Update With Build 7740 Coming To Fix Exchange Server 2003 Issues

November 16, 2011 | By Pradeep

A month ago we came across a bug in Windows Phone 7.5 which caused the omission of the original message when reply to/forward a mail related to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. It seems Microsoft is delivering an update with build number 7.10.7740.16 that solves this issue. Along with that Microsoft has also fixed the voicemail notification issue.

Did you get any update notification so far ??

Source: WPXAP via: Welovewp.hk

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Rumour: HTC developing software for direct synchronization with Outlook

November 10, 2011 | By Surur

ActiveSync Direct synchronization without a cloud intermediary is a feature for which there is huge demand, and which Microsoft shows no indication of providing.

Now Pocketinfo.nl reports that HTC is planning to develop software which will allow a Windows phone directly to synchronize with Outlook. The person Pocketinfo.nl talked to said as an OEM HTC had the deep access available to enable this feature, and that it would help Windows Mobile upgraders consider Windows Phone 7 more seriously.

It is not clear if it will in fact be over the USB port or wirelessly, but it is of note that Nokia has already demonstrated a similar feature with their ability to import contacts over Bluetooth from other phones, so it is certainly possible.

Would our readers buy a HTC Windows Phone over another simple because it could synchronize directly with Outlook, or is it just a really outmoded idea? Let us know below.

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HTC Cybertron will destroy the smartphone world in 2012

November 8, 2011 | By Surur

cybetron Pocketnow have released a list of HTC code names representing devices already released or still to be announced.

The list includes a few Windows Phone 7 handsets, like the HTC Eternity and HTC Omega and of course include a longer list of Android handsets.

Intriguingly however it also includes a number of device still to be released or leaked, including the rather exciting HTC Cybertron.

Already know	New names
Bliss Edge Eternity Glider Holiday Omega Prime Vigor Ruby Runnymede Radiant (a known upcoming WP7.75 handset)	Act Alpha Blue Cybertron Elite Fighter Fit Flick Grande Jet Key Layer Pico Pop Quattro RTP Splendor Square Tag Tahiti Tube Veloce Villa Vitesse

Pocketnow notes that there are more than 20 handsets yet to be released, which should last even HTC at least a year. Of course at least a few of those will be running Windows Phone 7, and we look forward to finding out which ones over the next few months.

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