Similarities between HTC and BlackBerry

Recently I began to check out HTC 10 in HTC subforums at Android Central. To my surprise, I found many similarities between HTC and BlackBerry in terms of their product strategies, operations and fanbase sentiments, etc. Below is by no mean a summary, but simply a collection of observations:

1. HTC puts lots of emphasis in audio, and it's a widely recognized differentiator. Their "boom sound" reminded me BlackBerry 's natural sound feature in Z30. Even after Z30, BlackBerry still put audio as one of the their priorities. For example, Passport and Priv both have front facing speakers, HTC has been doing this since M7... other guys like Apple, Samsung, LG don't do that.

2. HTC also focus on fast software updates, like BlackBerry. HTC 10 also changed their originally heavy launcher (HTC Sense) and begin to bring near stock Android experience.

3. HTC was the first Android phone maker brought in premium build quality, BlackBerry phones have always had great build quality, arguably until Priv. They both have the know-how to produce high quality products.

3. Among HTC's fan base there is a small but vocal group seems to be dissatisfied with HTC's latest effort and think HTC needs to make bigger strides (like Samsung last year and LG this year) in their innovation, while other Android fans seem to welcome HTC 10. BlackBerry fan base also have a small and vocal group that prefer BlackBerry don't change to Android and stick with bb10 to make it work. And other Android fans also welcome BlackBerry 's new direction.

4. HTC 10 is priced the same as other flagship Android phones, and many believe that's too expensive because... well, they are not Samsung. BlackBerry also did the same and met the same criticism.

5. Apparently HTC is also historically poor at marketing when comparing to Samsung and LG. BlackBerry fits the same bill.

6. HTC is also at the critical moment that requires a phone to turn around the company 's fate. BlackBerry is more diversified but for the hardware business, it's the same.

A critical difference between BlackBerry and HTC is, HTC chooses to fight in consumer space because they really have no other choice, this is where they do the best. BlackBerry can't seem to make up their mind because they have the perceived "choice" to avoid competition and find their own niche in corporate space... or transform into a software business completely.

The result is, HTC 10 is a premium flagship product with no compromise, selling at premium price, Priv is a compromised product with unique features selling at premium price.

It's still too early to tell who will have brighter future, but it's definitely interesting to see how these two companies making different decisions to dealing with a similar crisis, and how their current choices determine their fate.

CB nation, do you see the similarities in their situations? What's your observation?

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

Originally Posted by aha

Recently I began to check out HTC 10 in HTC subforums at Android Central. To my surprise, I found many similarities between HTC and BlackBerry in terms of their product strategies, operations and fanbase sentiments, etc. Below is by no mean a summary, but simply a collection of observations:

1. HTC puts lots of emphasis in audio, and it's a widely recognized differentiator. Their "boom sound" reminded me BlackBerry 's natural sound feature in Z30. Even after Z30, BlackBerry still put audio as one of the their priorities. For example, Passport and Priv both have front facing speakers, HTC has been doing this since M7... other guys like Apple, Samsung, LG don't do that.

2. HTC also focus on fast software updates, like BlackBerry. HTC 10 also changed their originally heavy launcher (HTC Sense) and begin to bring near stock Android experience.

3. HTC was the first Android phone maker brought in premium build quality, BlackBerry phones have always had great build quality, arguably until Priv. They both have the know-how to produce high quality products.

3. Among HTC's fan base there is a small but vocal group seems to be dissatisfied with HTC's latest effort and think HTC needs to make bigger strides (like Samsung last year and LG this year) in their innovation, while other Android fans seem to welcome HTC 10. BlackBerry fan base also have a small and vocal group that prefer BlackBerry don't change to Android and stick with bb10 to make it work. And other Android fans also welcome BlackBerry 's new direction.

4. HTC 10 is priced the same as other flagship Android phones, and many believe that's too expensive because... well, they are not Samsung. BlackBerry also did the same and met the same criticism.

5. Apparently HTC is also historically poor at marketing when comparing to Samsung and LG. BlackBerry fits the same bill.

6. HTC is also at the critical moment that requires a phone to turn around the company 's fate. BlackBerry is more diversified but for the hardware business, it's the same.

A critical difference between BlackBerry and HTC is, HTC chooses to fight in consumer space because they really have no other choice, this is where they do the best. BlackBerry can't seem to make up their mind because they have the perceived "choice" to avoid competition and find their own niche in corporate space... or transform into a software business completely.

The result is, HTC 10 is a premium flagship product with no compromise, selling at premium price, Priv is a compromised product with unique features selling at premium price.

It's still too early to tell who will have brighter future, but it's definitely interesting to see how these two companies making different decisions to dealing with a similar crisis, and how their current choices determine their fate.

CB nation, do you see the similarities in their situations? What's your observation?

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

Merge...? ;-)

�   There's a Crack in the Berry right now...   �

Just wanted to correct the placement of the Passport's speakers. They're actually at the bottom of the device.. Other than that, well, I see your point. The similarities do make sense.. =)

Posted via CB10

HTC makes a good product, they have suffered some software woes. I still say my original Nexus One made by HTC was my favorite Android device to this day.

Agree with a lot of what you are saying except for the speakers recently with Blackberry. The Priv does have a front facing mono speaker, and its terrible.

HTC was not historically bad at advertising. If you look back 5 years you will see a lot of HTC advertising. HTC was had software issues and until they limited the number of phones they were horrible about providing updates. I will never buy another HTC phone. I bought their flagship phone almost 5 years ago and only received one update.

Since then they have made some big blunders. They removed SD card support in 2013 on a device designed for media. Their cameras have been bad. Their phones have been big with smaller screen sizes due to dual front facing speakers. (A plus to some, but not me).

HTC was hit with some big quality issues - mostly software about 5 years ago and they have never recovered.

Originally Posted by eshropshire

HTC was not historically bad at advertising. If you look back 5 years you will see a lot of HTC advertising. HTC was had software issues and until they limited the number of phones they were horrible about providing updates. I will never buy another HTC phone. I bought their flagship phone almost 5 years ago and only received one update.

Since then they have made some big blunders. They removed SD card support in 2013 on a device designed for media. Their cameras have been bad. Their phones have been big with smaller screen sizes due to dual front facing speakers. (A plus to some, but not me).

HTC was hit with some big quality issues - mostly software about 5 years ago and they have never recovered.

Didn't know that... BlackBerry also has their own shares of mistakes in the past 9 years.

BTW, another obvious similarity between HTC and BlackBerry is, they both picked the number 10 as their fate turning product line. For BlackBerry they skipped 8 and 9, jumped from 7 to 10 to make it happen. For HTC they didn't jump because their previous flagship was M9, but they did decide to lose "M", so instead of M10, they simply call it 10.

Well, Microsoft also used 10 in their fate turning product line... they all seem to be in trouble.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

Everything that was said about the HTC 10 was said about the 8 and 9 - it made no difference to their sales. The HTC 10 will not save them - the actual phone is a important aspect but only an aspect of a larger picture.

They both have Chinese leadership, and they're both on the ropes.

Posted via CB10

HTC's single biggest problem was their crappy cameras for the last 3 generations. If they'd had great cameras in the HTC One series (M7-M9), they'd be one of the top-selling flagships, but year after year, they didn't get it right. They got BETTER with the M9 by finally abandoning the "UltraPixel" primary camera that no one wanted, but the M9's camera is still middle-of-the-road. I seriously considered the M9, but the LG G4's camera was so dramatically better - both for stills and video - that I couldn't do it.

Yes, another issue is that the One series of phones are HUGE because they have those big "forehead" and "chin" pieces for the front-facing speakers, and that's something else that turns a lot of people off about them, but as an audio guy, I'd have liked having those speakers. They definitely beat the very good speakers on the Z30, and that's impressive, because the Z30's were great. But those lousy cameras just killed the One for so many people.

Finally, their Sense skin, while improved the last couple of generations, is still too heavy and still too gimmicky (but no where near as bad as the worst offender: Samsung's TouchWiz, which is absolutely AWFUL).

Really, though, HTC loses because of their lousy cameras more than for any other reason - and LG has been growing at HTC's expense because LG wisely focused a lot of attention on their cameras, which are among the top priorities that people use when selecting a smartphone. They got it right and the market rewarded them.

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

HTC's single biggest problem was their crappy cameras for the last 3 generations. If they'd had great cameras in the HTC One series (M7-M9), they'd be one of the top-selling flagships, but year after year, they didn't get it right. They got BETTER with the M9 by finally abandoning the "UltraPixel" primary camera that no one wanted, but the M9's camera is still middle-of-the-road. I seriously considered the M9, but the LG G4's camera was so dramatically better - both for stills and video - that I couldn't do it.

Yes, another issue is that the One series of phones are HUGE because they have those big "forehead" and "chin" pieces for the front-facing speakers, and that's something else that turns a lot of people off about them, but as an audio guy, I'd have liked having those speakers. They definitely beat the very good speakers on the Z30, and that's impressive, because the Z30's were great. But those lousy cameras just killed the One for so many people.

Finally, their Sense skin, while improved the last couple of generations, is still too heavy and still too gimmicky (but no where near as bad as the worst offender: Samsung's TouchWiz, which is absolutely AWFUL).

Really, though, HTC loses because of their lousy cameras more than for any other reason - and LG has been growing at HTC's expense because LG wisely focused a lot of attention on their cameras, which are among the top priorities that people use when selecting a smartphone. They got it right and the market rewarded them.

How do you like HTC 10?

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

Originally Posted by donnation

Agree with a lot of what you are saying except for the speakers recently with Blackberry. The Priv does have a front facing mono speaker, and its terrible.

The speaker on the BlackBerry Storm 1 (9530) was really loud!

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