HTC News

overview

No one is surprised but everyone is excited about HTC’s Q1 results and projections for the future.

The USITC announced it would look into Apple’s complaints of patent infringement against HTC. Meanwhile, some new patent filings by HTC piqued bloggers’ interest.

The HTC HD mini became available through Clove in the UK while the HTC HD2, HTC Desire, and HTC Legend continue to receive generally positive reviews.

There were rumors aplenty about the possibility that the HTC Incredible would become available on the Verizon network in the US this month.

Microsoft is dropping the “Series” from its Windows Phone 7 operating system name. Meanwhile, their mobile media event on the 12^th may debut “Project Pink.”

Last but not least, the biggest news of the week was the release of Apple’s iPad on Saturday.

key trends

 

HTC

A Wall Street Journal article this week sparked a flurry of kudos about HTC’s exceptional performance and optimistic projections for the future.

PhoneArena tipped their hat:

Their commitment and delivery in their products have managed to take their brand name to a whole new realm that could easily justify them as being the premier smartphone maker to top.

GigaOM cited “HTC’s bet on Android that’s yielding the greatest returns” and “HTC’s carrier-friendly stance, which has yielded an increase in subsidies for its smartphones” as key drivers of HTC’s success to date and noted an estimate that “HTC accounts for about 61 percent of the total Android handset market.”

Matthew Miller at ZDNet was touched and commended marketing efforts, saying that the “HTC, Quietly Brilliant, campaign is quite good with compelling commercials and a nice message.” Engadget elaborated that:

HTC credits a "successful" marketing campaign for its success; we credit awesome hardware, but we'd guess the real answer lies somewhere in between. Quietly brilliant, indeed.

MSMobiles was excited about the new headquarters as well as performance:

thanks to sucking up to Google, HTC managed to get a lead in Android phones and with phones like HTC HD2 (now on sale in USA) and HTC Evo 4G (goes on sale in USA in Summer) future of HTC in USA seems to be bright. And whenever Microsoft will be ready with that Windows Phone 7 thingy, HTC will be ready to rock and roll...

Growth is also expected to come from China, where HTC will introduce six handsets in partnership with China Mobile.

The Apple v. HTC patent complaint was described as, “the only fly in the ointment for this company” as the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) announced this week that it would look into the suit. In its recap of a Dutch Telegraph article about the matter, WMPoweruser reflected up on HTC’s recent growth and labeled HTC, “one of the most direct challengers to Apple’s domination of the industry.”

Two patent filings by HTC surfaced this week. Described by WMPoweruser as an example of how, “HTC has continued to beaver away at adding small nice touches to their software offerings,” one application “calls for an end to motion sickness and blurry videos,” describing software that will adjust video playback according to unintended movement of the phone so that the image will remain stable. CNET was skeptically open-minded:

We're not sure whether we'll get used to this, but who knows? HTC may perfect this technology in the near future.

Phonemag found that:

HTC has filed a patent app for a new smartphone design that folds flat like a book. It’s an interesting design that could give you a larger screen and keyboard to work with.

The HTC HD mini became available through Clove in the UK today “at a relatively low price.” SlashPhone is pleased:

While the HD Mini may not pack all of the goodness that its big brother, the HD2, brings to the table, we can safely say that the HD Mini does what it needs to do, and it does it well. It’s super-thin, 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive screen works well enough, especially for its size. And we’re sure that there’s going to be plenty of people out there wanting to order it.

Generally positive reviews of the HTC Desire, HTC Legend, and HTC HD2 continue to pop up.

In reviewing the HTC Legend, AndroidCentral asked and answered:

So who's gonna want the HTC Legend when the likes of the Desire and Nexus One are out and about? Maybe you want Android and HTC Sense but just don't need as much phone as you'll get in 3.7 inches. (Hey, we don't understand it either, but whatever.) The Legend is a nice compromise. You get all the power of Android and Sense, in a smaller package. It feels great in the hand, it looks great with the unibody construction, and it feels like it could last forever.

Phone Arena concluded their review of the HTC Legend as follows:

All told, the HTC Legend is certainly among the best Android handsets today in terms of design. We can even go so far as to say that the Legend is one of the top three smartphones ever. The device is more elegant than its predecessor, although some may find the HTC Hero more attractive with its angular shapes. The HTC Legend goes to show that HTC is a market leader in design and able to create handsets with smooth, simple forms that are irresistibly attractive. Speaking from experience here, we can definitely say the device is more appealing than the HTC Desire.

PocketNow mentioned a Russian review of the HTC Desire in which, “the guys at Mobile-review.com only found one flaw to the device, its weakest point being the battery, otherwise a great Android device.”

Lisa Gade at MobileTechReview reviewed the HTC HD2 back in December when the unlocked GSM version came out and revisited the US 3G model this week, finding it “even better thanks to 3G HSDPA and excellent added software” and “modern, high end and sexy.”

The HTC HD2 was selling out in many locations and MS Mobiles didn’t seem surprised, raving about the “very impressive phone” and comparing it to both the iPhone:

HTC HD2 has display of size 4.3 inch. It's 0.6 inch more than iPhone 4G and 0.8 inch more than iPhone 3GS!

and even the iPad:

Note: there is no denial that iPad is a great device too, but the matter of fact is that iPad is not pocketable and HTC HD2 is!

There was a rumor circulating that T-Mobile was offering a $100-$350 credit on the HTC HD2 to those who traded in their old iPhone at a participating dealer. This left Matthew Miller wondering:

I wonder what T-Mobile is going to do with iPhones that get traded in as part of this offer? Will they send them to HTC so they can destroy them in anger over the Apple lawsuit?

Meanwhile, Microsoft is running a “quirky promotion” in partnership with T-Mobile in which they ask users what they would do for an extra inch. Contest winners will receive an HTC HD2.

With Boy Genius Report’s post on the appearance of the HTC Incredible on a Verizon CelleBrite, a tool used to transfer user data between phones, tweets on the VZOffers account, and other hints Verizon, the blogosphere went crazy with rumors that the HTC Incredible is coming to Big Red.

There was some question as to whether the HTC Incredible will be the only new smartphone to the network in the near future. MobileCrunch reported:

Now, it would have probably been safe to assume that included the Incredible – but assumptions are for chumps. Fortunately, something a bit more concrete has just leaked out.

They went on to show a slide from a Best Buy Mobile presentation announcing the HTC Incredible on the 29^th, Samsung Reality on the 22^nd, LG Cosmos and the LG 5600PP on the 25^th. IntoMobile speculates that Verizon may carry Microsoft’s Pink phones. Meanwhile, MobileBurn and Phone News reported the 25^th as the “confirmed” release date for the HTC Incredible.

Regardless of the final date, James Kendrick at jkOnTheRun predicts the HTC Incredible will do well if and when it arrives:

Big Red has always taken its sweet time “approving” handsets for its network, but it seems at times they do it on purpose. The enthusiast crowd is clamoring for the Nexus One, and when the Incredible hits the market no doubt it will fly off the shelves. The Droid is definitely old news at this point, so get these Android phones released, already.

Although currently lacking a release date, French carrier Bouygues Telecom officially listed the Nexus One on its Web site. SlashPhone speculated that the date may be intended to coincide with expected April release of the Nexus One on Verizon in the US and Vodafone in the UK, going on to say that:

Of course, if you’re on Bouygues Telecom, you can always pick up other Android powered devices, like the HTC Legend and the Samsung Galaxy Spica. The Legend might be the second-best when compared to the Nexus One, but the Spica’s internals are definitely nothing to ignore. Of course, we understand whole heartedly why you’d want to wait for the Nexus One. There’s just something about it, and if you can’t have the Desire, you may as well still aim big.

Platform

Smart move, Microsoft. Smart move.

Microsoft announced via Twitter this week that it was “dropping the ‘Series’” from the “slightly cumbersome” name for its new operating system, now to be known as Windows Phone 7.

Reactions to the branding adjustment were predictably snarky. Although all agreed that “a short, simple name” would be an improvement over the original “tongue twister,” bloggers could not help teasing about the “long, windy road” to the new brand. As WMPoweruser noted, Microsoft’s move demonstrated once again “either responsiveness or a lack of proper market research.”

Gizmodo called the new branding “Still a mouthful, but you know, it's um, less stupid.”

On a more serious note, WMExperts called the original naming “an obvious misstep in what needs to be a flawless campaign for the rebirth of its mobile brand.”

Competition

The big tech news of the week was undoubtedly the release of Apple’s iPad, which went on sale on Saturday. Engadget offered snapshots of the lines outside of various Apple stores around the country.

Apple confirmed Monday that it had sold over 300,000 iPads on the first day. In addition, iPad owners purchased 250,000 ebooks and downloaded over 1 million apps in the same timeframe. These numbers included pre-orders for the device. Gizmodo offered this perspective on the numbers:

In the context of Apple, whose latter two generations of the iPhone sold over a million on opening weekend, these sales figures are far from surprising, and possibly even disappointing. The real test is the next month, when the otherwise uninterested are either drawn to their friends' iPads or not; nearly everyone who's seen my iPad has wanted to play with it, but I don't think that's converted to any new sales yet.

Early reviews of the iPad were largely positive, though some noted that “This thing definitely has a place in the market, but we're still trying to figure it out.” Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz was optimistic, writing that “the iPad will kill today’s computers” because:

Steve Jobs' Next Big Thing is the first computer that requires no training whatsoever, one that is truly accessible and useful for everyone. Just like the iPhone changed the idea of what a phone should be without anyone truly realizing it, Apple's new computer will completely and permanently change our idea of what a computer is and how it should behave.

ARS Technica asserted that “the software makes the iPad” and noted that future applications will “take the iPad to much great heights.” The ARS staff also felt that multitouch was the true innovation of the device:

The iPad has numerous flaws—most of which can be fixed with software updates, and we hope that they will be—but it's still a device that will undoubtedly kick off a shift in how the general population interacts with software and content. As pointed out by Omni Group CEO Ken Case at the Macworld Expo, even if the first iPad doesn't end up being a hit, multitouch devices where users interact directly with what's on the screen is the future. "In five to ten years, there will be really big multitouch screens, like on an iMac or something, and we'll be touching and moving things around instead of clicking and dragging. This effort is an investment in the future. It's forcing us to look at our applications—for the iPad and the Mac—in a completely different way and improve upon it as user interaction changes," he said. We agree.

With that, however, the reviewers also noted, “Five hundred dollars (or more) is a lot of money to spend on a device that some people still can't figure out how to fit into their lives.” Phone Arena offered some possible answers to this question:

OK, so we’ve seen all of what the iPad does but still haven’t exactly answered the question of why you need it since it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. Тhe thing is the iPad makes all those things that you have sort of done with your smartphone or netbook significantly easier and pleasant. Sure, it's not really a computer yet and it isn't perfect for business needs. However, all of those things you can easily do with it reveal where the unique appeal of the iPad is. Things like playing 3D games, seamlessly surfing the web, enjoying YouTube and other video, emailing, reading e-books and even basic document editing. Yes, you can already do most of that with certain smartphones, but not in that smooth, easy and intuitive way the iPad allows you to.

Microsoft sent out notices this week inviting top mobile media to an April 12^th event in San Francisco. The invitations stated “It’s time to share” and featured “young, attractive Urban Outfitters models.” Bloggers were quick to zero in on the most likely content of the keynote: the launch of Microsoft’s rumored Project Pink phones, the Turtle and Pure.

SlashGear summed up the current consensus on Turtle and Pure:

Truth be told, the Turtle and Pure devices are obviously aimed at the social networking crowd, and more importantly, messaging. We can’t say for sure whether or not they are aimed at the “tween” generation or not, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they are.

General Mobile Tech

It was April Fool’s Day last week, and here is a summary of some of the mobile non-news from the day:

• Next iPhone will run Android
• Next iPhone will run Windows Phone 7
• Microsoft buys Palm
• iPhone to iPad converter makes blogger wish lists
• Google rebranding as Topeka
• Qualcomm responds to butterfly attacks