went from the king of Android to "liquidating", Wang Xuehong was unwilling to accept the decline of HTC. Now she is back with the first Yuanverse mobile phone. The underlying logic may be an extension of VR, but will the "three old problems" of marketing, pricing, and quality trip up the richest woman in mobile phones again?
article/Daily Capital
Wang Xuehong bet the resurrection chip of the "Android King" on the Metaverse.
html On June 29, HTC International Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as HTC) launched the first Yuanverse mobile phone Desire 22 Pro, which was on the hot search list on Weibo. The machine focuses on functions related to Viverse and the Metaverse. It has built-in Viverse App for metaverse entrance, Vive Avatar for creating virtual avatars, and Vive Wallet for managing virtual assets. It is recommended to be used with HTC's own Vive Flow glasses. This model sells for about 2,709 yuan.
But this did not seem to cause much ripples, and the news quickly dropped out of the top 50 hot searches. "Is HTC making a comeback?" "To put it bluntly, the Metaverse is about popularizing 3D online games." "That's it? Can it beat the Redmi thousand yuan machine?" The attitude of netizens in the comment area seems to be different. Buying it, some netizens even directly asked, "Has Ham Sausage not closed down yet?"
Obviously, for today’s young people, the name HTC is still a bit unfamiliar. But for those born in the 70s and 80s, HTC is familiar with it. It was once the world's largest Windows Mobile smartphone manufacturer and the world's largest smartphone OEM and manufacturer. It launched the world's first Android phone HTC G1.
Simply put, in the 3G era, HTC was the king of mobile phones. It once crushed Samsung , Nokia , and directly challenged Apple in the US market.
Sadly, in 2017, HTC founder Wang Xuehong decided to sell its core mobile phone assets and core team. This also announced that HTC has completely given up on the smartphone business. Since then, HTC has almost disappeared in the field of smartphones. In 2018 and 2021, HTC launched blockchain mobile phones and Desire 21 pro 5G mobile phones, and they were limited to the Taiwan market.
"Daily Capital" found in JD Global Shopping that HTC only has two mobile phones on sale, namely the Desire 21 pro 5G mobile phone and the U20 mobile phone, with prices ranging from 6,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. However, these mobile phone reviews are all displayed as 0. In other words, consumers are not interested in these two HTC mobile phones.
It is worth mentioning that metaverse is the most inflammatory and appealing word at the moment. Some people say that the Metaverse can excite geniuses and drive lunatics crazy. The future it predicts is full of opportunities and imagination. Mobile phone manufacturers are embarrassed to call themselves technology companies without mentioning the Metaverse.
In this case, the question is, can the HTC Desire 22 Pro, which is now close to the Yuanverse, successfully win the post-00 generation and achieve the "return of the king"? Or is this just a gimmick to extend his life?
The Forgotten King
The answer to this question may be hidden in HTC's transformation.
In 2006, HTC changed its previous OEM model and began to build its own brand. In May 2008, it released the stunning-looking HTC Diamond, which caught the attention of many consumers. In September of the same year, HTC teamed up with , Google and others to release the well-known G1, which was the world's first Android phone. By 2011, HTC's market value surpassed Nokia for the first time, reaching US$33.8 billion, about 220 billion yuan, reaching the top of the Android camp and becoming the biggest winner in the Android mobile phone market. Wang Xuehong also once became the richest man in Taiwan, China, and the richest woman in the mobile phone industry.
But reaching the top is the beginning of failure.
Also in 2011, Apple took HTC to court on the grounds of patent infringement and requested a ban on the sale of 29 HTC mobile phones in the United States. After that, Apple won the lawsuit, and international technology giants such as Microsoft , Nokia, and Samsung followed suit and picked up the patent stick.
What makes HTC even more troublesome is that during this period, Chinese technology companies have joined the ranks of smartphones. Baidu , Shanda, Alibaba , NetEase, 360 and other giants may have to enter the unfamiliar mobile phone industry chain. Own brand, or flirt with mobile phone manufacturers to engage in OEM customization.
It was also in 2011, when the world’s sixth largest smartphone manufacturer Huawei’s report card was amazing-Huawei C8500 became the first domestic Android smartphone to break one million, the first within six months Domestic smart 3G mobile phone worth over one million yuan.
The following story should be familiar to those born in the 1970s and 1980s. HTC declined rapidly, and in 2013, its performance failed miserably. Four years later, on September 21, HTC officially sold HTC’s core mobile phone business to Google for US$1.1 billion. There are many reasons for the collapse of
HTC, and many professionals have done detailed analysis. But what needs to be mentioned here is that HTC’s differentiated treatment in marketing strategies was one of the important reasons for its collapse.
In 2013, HTC released a mobile phone called "HTC One S". In Europe and the United States, it used the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. However, in mainland China, the same mobile phone was equipped with a Snapdragon whose architecture was one generation behind. S3. In 2016, HTC used a different processor from the international version for the HTC 10 Lifestyle priced at 3,799 yuan in the mainland market, and the body memory was also changed from 4GB to 3GB. In addition, HTC also issued a $100 purchase discount code to users in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, which aroused the disgust of many domestic consumers and media, and HTC's image fell off a cliff.
Perhaps many people will say that many foreign-funded enterprises have similar practices. The most typical examples are , BMW, , , Mercedes-Benz, and in the automotive industry. They are treated differently in the Chinese market, but they are still very popular. And why can't HTC? The reason is very simple. Domestic car brands cannot yet replace BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In the smartphone category, anyone except Apple can replace it, let alone a brand that cannot achieve high standards but cannot achieve low standards.
In short, news of HTC’s “bankruptcy” continued to spread in the market. By 2020, its losses would be as high as 1.38 billion yuan.
What is the underlying logic
Interestingly, HTC is making rapid progress in another direction.
In 2016, the year before HTC sold its core mobile phone business, the outside world paid attention to Wang Xuehong’s move. She took the new generation Vive VR headset to Barcelona MWC exhibition. That year was also recognized as the “first year of VR”.
In fact, earlier on March 2, 2015, HTC announced that it had jointly launched a VR head display (virtual reality head-mounted display ) with VALVE. Public information shows that in 2015, global VR financing amounted to US$465 million. In the first quarter of 2016 alone, the amount of financing in the VR field reached US$217 million.
Obviously, Wang Xuehong, who has failed in the field of mobile phones, has set her sights on this hot topic.
"Daily Capital" was seen on HTC's official website, and its homepage focuses on VR terminal products. According to HTC’s official website, the VIVE series is a mainstream PC-VR for gamers. Featuring accurate 360-degree headset tracking, realistic graphics, directional audio and high-definition haptic feedback to enhance participant experience in the virtual world.
In 2018, HTC’s VR product sales exceeded 200,000 units, making it famous in the VR market. For several consecutive years since then, HTC has maintained its leading position in the global VR market. In 2021, HTC successfully entered the top five in the global VR field. In 2022, HTC's VR-related product shipments have exceeded 65 million units.
According to a report released by a global research and consulting firm, 12.5 million VR headsets will be sold in 2021, and spending on VR content will reach US$2 billion. Omdia estimates that the consumer VR market will be worth US$16 billion by 2026, a 148% increase from 2021.
At this point, you can return to the previous question in the article. Now that HTC has launched the first Metaverse mobile phone Desire 22 Pro, the essence is still its extension in the VR field .
As we all know, although the VR market is growing rapidly, its market capacity is not at the same level as that of mobile phones, and the price of products, which are often several thousand yuan higher, prohibits ordinary consumers.
Whether the cost of VR can be reduced is a thinking dimension for HTC to strengthen its core competitiveness. And whether can empower VR on mobile phones, so as to find a more comfortable position for itself in a large-scale market, this may be the underlying logic of Wang Xuehong's Yuanverse mobile phone.
The final problem is that HTC gives the impression to the outside world that its products do not have many features, the prices are often "plywood", and it is not good at marketing. Has HTC changed today? If not, how can HTC’s Metaverse break out of the atmosphere?
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