Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said that pre-orders for the new HTC One exceeded those for the HTC Butterfly, adding that it remained confident consumers would choose its new flagship product over Samsung Electronics Co’s new Galaxy S4 smartphone, which debuted on Friday last week in New York.
“Pre-orders for the new HTC One greatly exceeded our expectations following the product launch last month in New York and London,” HTC North Asia-Pacific Region president Jack Tong (董俊良) told reporters on the sidelines of a corporate event.
“Reviews for the new HTC One tell us that our new product has had a positive reception with tech-savvy users, which gives us a certain degree of confidence,” he added.
Continuing their seven-year-long collaboration, HTC yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with local telecommunications carrier Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) in Taipei for continued cooperation on digital stream promotion, as well as improvements in mobile broadband services.
“HTC not only aims to make great products and to expand sales channels, but also try to think from customers’ perspectives at the same time. We seek to enhance users’ experience and value-added services by enhancing cloud-computing technologies,” HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明) said at the signing ceremony.
Upon concluding his remarks, Chou said that HTC plans to roll out further software upgrades for the popular HTC Butterfly model, such as upgrading the company’s Sense user interface system to the fifth generation after the HTC One hits major markets.
To meet strong demand from consumers for the new flagship smartphone, HTC is planning to ship the first batch of the new HTC One as early as by the end of this month to major markets, including Taiwan and European countries, Tong said.
By signing the memorandum, HTC aims to enable new HTC One users to use their smartphones to watch television channels broadcast on Chunghwa Telecom’s Multimedia on Demand (MOD) online platform, Chou said.
The memorandum also enables users who subscribe to Chunghwa Telecom to enjoy value-added services, such as private cloud storage services or data delivery via near-field communication technologies, which are provided by the telecoms carrier, he added.
Tong told reporters that HTC plans to increase marketing costs to promote its flagship products this year and that marketing strategies would emphasize localization.
While Chunghwa Telecom is to open customized counters at 85 of its service centers throughout the nation for HTC to provide product experience services, the Taoyuan-based company is to extend distribution channels to more than 3,300 stores this year to increase sales and brand awareness, Tong said.
“We believe consumers will make the right choice between the new HTC One [and Samsung’s Galaxy S4],” Tong said.
“Our marketing approaches are going to be refreshing this year, and we can’t wait to give everyone a surprise,” he added.
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