With a new year rapidly approaching, it's a perfect time for companies to start looking back over 2012 and evaluate how the year went. What went wrong? Did anything go wrong? What did we do right? Anything? By taking the time to reflect, there's a strong possibility that the year ahead will be the best year yet.
It's a possibility. It all just depends on the execution.
It could also come down to making some big, bold moves, too. Just doing the same thing over and over again may work for some companies, but when you're knee-deep in a platform that's all about unique customization, adding more features and changing things for the better is absolutely essential to making an impact within the market.
For HTC, this is the crucial moment. Not so much because I think they're going to disappear anytime soon. (Some do, though.) I think this is an important crux for HTC because they have to look at their plan for devices and supported software, and see if there is any place for some changes.
Right now, HTC is supporting both Microsoft's mobile OS Windows Phone 8, and Google's Android platform. As it stands, HTC's new One series of devices have given the company a better hold on the Android-based competition, but it's plain to see that Samsung is the runaway winner in this category right now. Samsung's domination of Android could be reason enough for HTC to reevaluate their own position, and gauge whether or not putting their main focus on another platform is viable.
For example, the Windows Phone 8X. This is a device that, for all intents and purposes, offers "less" than its Windows Phone 8 competitor, the Lumia 920 from Nokia. A smaller display. Less memory. A camera that's good on its own, but is "less than" when compared to the picture snapper in Nokia's Lumia high-end device. And yet, despite all that, the 8X is reigning in the praise, from both consumers and reviewers, and it will probably sell quite a few devices.
Of course, that depends on Windows Phone just as much as it does on the hardware. Are people ready to switch? And, can HTC make that switch easier for people who do make the leap? If they can, I think the Windows Phone 8X is the best way to make that happen.
HTC has a huge device coming down the pipe, if renders and leaks have anything to say about it. The DROID DNA, which is headed for Verizon, will be HTC's biggest phone to date, and it will be a direct competitor to Samsung's Galaxy Note II. It will be genuinely interesting to see how it fares in comparison, both in hardware and software. And, most importantly for HTC, how it does in sales.
I think 2013 could be a big year for HTC, but I'm also beginning to think that it could take a big, unconventional step to make that happen. Does that mean they should go all-in with their support for Windows Phone 8? Maybe. If they can create more excellent devices like the Windows Phone 8X --but not exactly like it--, then that could be a good way to bring in more customers for the mobile OS, as well as HTC. Or, it could just mean HTC needs to take Sense UI back to the drawing board and start something fresh, all new.
What do you think, Dear Reader? Should HTC keep their main focus on Android, and put a stronger effort into revolutionizing Sense UI? Or, should HTC make a bigger push for Windows Phone and do their best to become the leader in that particular platform race? Let me know what you think!