Phenomenon of HTC and Windows Mobile Devices
Trends December 13th. 2006, 12:19amAs you may notice, I usually write about Symbian OS devices. This time, I want to write something about HTC (High Tech Computer Corporation) and Windows Mobile. Why? Because I am a little bit surprised with the growth and popularity of HTC devices. The report from Canalys about EMEA total smart mobile device market below shows the growth of HTC devices.
As you can see in the report above, HTC devices grew almost 300% from Q3 2005 to Q3 2006. The company has growth very significantly after being chosen by Microsoft as hardware platform development for Windows Mobile.
The interesting thing about HTC is the fact that it is an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) company. The end users may not aware about the brand of HTC. What they know might be the brands like Qtek, O2, Dopod, etc.
The picture below shows HTC Universal that is sold under different brands, i.e. Qtek 9000, Dopod 900, T-Mobile MDA Pro and O2 XDA Exec. Actually there are still some other brands under operator names, such as Vodafone and E-Plus.
Honestly, I am not an expert who is capable of analyzing the business model as well as advantages/disadvantages between Microsoft and HTC versus Symbian and its licensees (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, …). I will write another posting when I have more information.
2 Responses to “Phenomenon of HTC and Windows Mobile Devices”
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December 14th, 2006 at 6:37 am
Two things to keep in mind:
1. HTC are now starting to sell their devices under their own brand. They have been just a manufacturer selling to those who can’t – or don’t want to – make their own devices. But they are now pushing direct to end users.
2. Providing the devices in this way expands their market share. For example O2 sell the XDA, XDA2, XDA Mini, XDA Exec as their own devices, as do other phone networks, and I think they prefer that to selling someone elses branded phone in some cases.
But the rise in popularity of Windows Mobile in general isn’t a big surprise. Microsoft want the market, and they have the big money to put into publicity an developer support to make sure they get it. They’ve already trounced Palm (I hate to admit it, but Palm are on really dodgy ground now) and if they’re not careful, Symbian will go the same way.
I spoke to a few people at the Smartphone show 2005 and made the same comments – if you make it so hard for developers, they won’t stand by the platform, and your market share will be gone. Since then, they’ve introduced the minefield that is Symbian Signed, and made it ten times worse.
It may be easier to use a Symbian phone than a Microsoft one, but how long does anyone think that will carry on for if the MS marketing men find out that’s why Symbian has a better market share?
Symbian need to make sure they’re ready.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:29 am
@Mike: Thanks for the very good comments. As you may notice, I didn’t follow HTC and Windows Mobile business so often…
About Symbian Signed, I fully agree with you. I have been trying to push Symbian in many various different ways (forum discussion, blogs, …) to kill or change Symbian Signed. It is just a pain in third party developers.