HTC Corporation, formerly High-Tech Computer Corporation, is a Taiwanese manufacturer of
smartphones and tablets headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Founded in 1997, HTC
began as an original design manufacturer and original equipment manufacturer, designing
and manufacturing devices such as mobile phones, touchscreen phones, and PDAs based on Windows
Mobile OS and Brew MP to market to mobile network operators who were willing to pay
a contract manufacturer for customized products. After initially making smartphones based mostly
on Windows Mobile, HTC expanded its focus in 2009 to devices based on the Android, and
in 2010 to Windows Phone. As of 2011, HTC primarily releases and markets its smartphones
under the HTC brand, ranking as the 98th top brand on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands
2011 report. A September 2013 media report stated that HTC's share of the global smartphone
market is less than 3 percent and its stock price has fallen by 90 percent since 2011.
HTC is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of handset manufacturers
and mobile network operators dedicated to the development of the Android mobile device
platform. The HTC Dream, marketed by T-Mobile in many countries as the T-Mobile G1 or Era
G1, was the first phone on the market to use the Android mobile device platform.
History Cher Wang, H. T. Cho, and Peter Chou founded
HTC in 1997. Initially a manufacturer of notebook computers, HTC began designing some of the
world's first touch and wireless hand-held devices in 1998. The company is credited with
creating the first Android smartphone, the first Microsoft-powered smartphone and the
first Microsoft 3G phone. Their first major product, one of the world's first touch-screen
smartphones, appeared in 2000. As an ODM for HP and Palm, HTC built the HP iPAQ and the
Palm Treo 650. In 2007 HTC acquired the mobile-device company
Dopod International. In October 2009, HTC launched the brand tagline
"quietly brilliant", and the YOU campaign, HTC's first global advertising campaign.
In June 2010, the company launched the HTC Evo 4G, the first 4G-capable phone in the
United States. In July 2010, HTC announced it would begin selling smartphones in China
under its own brand name in a partnership with China Mobile. In 2010 HTC sold over 24.6
million handsets, up 111% over 2009. At the Mobile World Congress on 16 February
2011, the GSM Association named HTC the "Device Manufacturer of the Year" for 2011. In April
2011, the company's market value surpassed that of Nokia, making HTC the third-largest
smartphone-maker in the world behind Apple and Samsung.
On 6 July 2011, it was announced that HTC would buy VIA Technologies' stake in S3 Graphics,
thus becoming the majority owner of S3. On 6 August 2011, HTC acquired Dashwire for $18.5M.
In August 2011, HTC confirmed a plan for a strategic partnership with Beats Electronics
involving acquiring 51 percent of Beats' shares. On 27 September 2013, HTC announced that it
sold back all remaining shares of Beats to Beats Electronics. The deal is expected to
be closed in Q4 of 2013. The 2011 Best Global Brands rankings released by Interbrand, listed
HTC at #98 and valued it at $3.6 billion. Based on researcher Canalys, in Q3 2011 HTC
Corporation became the largest smartphone vendor in the U.S. with 24 percent market
share, ahead of Samsung's 21 percent, Apple Inc.'s 20 percent and BlackBerry's 9 percent.
HTC Corporation made different models for each operator.
During early 2012, HTC lost much of this U.S. market share due to increased competition
from Samsung and Apple Inc. According to analyst firm comScore, HTC only accounted for 9.3%
of the United States smartphone market as of February 2013. In light of the company's
decrease in prominence, Chief Executive Peter Chou had informed executives that he would
step down if the company's newest flagship phone, the 2013 HTC One, had failed to generate
impressive sales results. HTC's first quarter results for 2013 showed its year-over-year
profit drop by 98.1%, making it the smallest-ever profit for the company—the delay of the
launch of the HTC One was cited as one of the factors. In June 2012, HTC moved its headquarters
from Taoyuan City to Xindian District, New Taipei City.
In August 2013, HTC debuted a new "Here's To Change" global marketing campaign featuring
actor Robert Downey, Jr., who signed a two-year contract to be HTC's new "Instigator of Change."
On 15 August, HTC began airing the new marketing campaign on YouTube, prior to the campaign's
appearance in television and cinema advertising schedules.
On September 27, 2013, HTC announced the sale of its entire stake in Beats Electronics.
The company will close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2013 and expects a US$85 million
pretax profit. The 2013 HTC One was released in mid-2013
and, subsequently won various industry awards in the best smartphone and best design categories,
but global sales of the HTC One were lower than those for Samsung's Galaxy S4 flagship
handset and HTC recorded its first ever quarterly loss in early October 2013: a deficit of just
under NT$3 billion. Marketing problems were identified by HTC as the primary reason for
its comparative performance, a factor that had been previously cited by the company.
Following the release of the HTC One, two variants were released to form a trio for
the 2013 HTC One lineup. A smaller variant named the HTC One Mini was released in August
2013, and a larger variant named the HTC One Max was released in October 2013. Similar
in design and features to the HTC One, the upgraded aspects of the One Max include a
display measuring 5.9 inches, a fingerprint sensor and a removable back cover for expandable
memory. The product was released into the European and Asian retail environment in October
2013, followed by a US launch in early November 2013.
In March 2014, HTC released the 2014 HTC One or "M8", the next version of the HTC One flagship,
at press conferences in London and New York City. In a change from previous launches,
the HTC One was made available for purchase on the company website and North American
mobile carrier websites on the same day a few hours after the launch.
Legal
In March 2010, Apple Inc. filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission
claiming infringement of 20 of its patents covering aspects of the iPhone user interface
and hardware. HTC disagreed with Apple's actions and reiterated its commitment to creating
innovative smartphones. HTC also filed a complaint against Apple for infringing on 5 of its patents
and sought to ban the import of Apple products into the US from manufacturing facilities
in Asia. Apple expanded its original complaint by adding two more patents.
On November 10, 2012, Apple and HTC reached a 10-year license-agreement covering current
and future patents held by the two companies. The terms of the agreement remain confidential.
In February 2013, HTC settled with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission concerning lax security
on more than 18 million smartphones and tablets it had shipped to customers and agreed to
security patches. Corporate information
HTC's chairwoman is Cher Wang who is the daughter of the late Wang Yung-ching, founder of the
plastics and petrochemicals conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, and one of Taiwan's wealthiest
people. Peter Chou serves as President and CEO, and HT Cho as Director of the Board and
Chairman of HTC Foundation. HTC's CFO is Hui-Ming Cheng. In addition to being chair of HTC,
Cher Wang is also acting chair of VIA Technologies. HTC's main divisions, including the IA engineering
division and the WM engineering division, are ISO 9001/ISO 14001-qualified facilities.
The company's growth has accelerated dramatically since being chosen by Microsoft as a hardware
platform development partner for the Windows Mobile operating system. HTC also works with
Google to build mobile phones running Google's Android mobile OS such as the Nexus One. HTC's
sales revenue totalled $2.2 billion for 2005, a 102% increase from the prior year. It was
listed as the fastest-growing tech company in BusinessWeek's Info Tech 100.
HTC has invested strongly in research and development, which accounts for a quarter
of its employees. The company's North American headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington.
HTC runs a software design office in Seattle where it designs its own interface for its
phones. In 2011, HTC also opened a research and development office in Durham, North Carolina,
a location the company chose over Seattle and Atlanta, to focus on multiple areas of
wireless technology. Innovations
On February 17, 2010, Fast Company ranked HTC as the 31st most innovative company in
the world. Bloomberg reports that HTC is considering its own mobile operating system to compete
with Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows Phone. On May 27, 2011, in response
to customer feedback, HTC announced that they will no longer lock the bootloaders on their
Android based phones. Since then, customers are now able to unlock the bootloaders of
most of HTC's Android product line through the use of HTC's Developer website, HTCDev.com.
On January 14, 2013, HTC launched its smartphones in Burma, which will come with the world’s
most advanced Burmese language on-screen keyboard. Sports sponsorship
Cycling HTC sponsored the HTC-Highroad professional
cycling team, the most successful team in professional cycling from 2009 to 2011.
Association football In 2012, HTC became the official mobile phone
supplier and sponsor of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The contract
will last for three years and makes HTC one of the main sponsors of the two competitions.
See also
List of HTC devices HTC Sense
TouchFLO TouchFLO 3D
References
External links Official website