Where is my phone?

The HTC One, High Tech Computer Corporation’s leading phone is currently experiencing worldwide delays. As of April 24th, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile are the sole wireless communications service providers that offer the cell phone for sale. Unfortunately, potential clients will be disappointed upon hearing that the phone will be delayed; potentially for several weeks. Originally the HTC One was scheduled to launch in mid-March, but supply issues have pushed back the release for over a month.

Over the prior year, HTC’s profits have dropped to a record low $2.83 million. This accounts for a 98% drop in profits. The HTC One is the paramount flagship model and in order to turn around the company, it must sell well. In March alone, HTC moved only 300,000 phones to nationwide retailers in three countries as supply bottleneck issues arose. HTC indicated a shortage of camera components as the problem responsible for the mass delays. By the end of April, J.P. Morgan Securities’ supply chain checks forecast 1.2 million phones shipping as well as 2.0 million in May.

Oddly enough, the main competitor of the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4, will also be delayed until April 29th on T-Mobile. The Galaxy S4 will be launching on six carriers, however only T-Mobile has set a definitive launch date. In order to cope with the anticipated sales forecasts, Samsung is currently producing 10 million units monthly. T-Mobile will likely be the first carrier to launch with the Galaxy S4 but is already experiencing delays before pre-ordering is available. Once the five other carriers set their release dates, demand will go up and Samsung may not have enough available phones for the amount demanded.

Anticipated sales forecasts generated for both HTC and Samsung may not be realistic over the next several months as both corporations are struggling to produce enough inventory for the demand. This, however, brings up a question of quality. If HTC and Samsung are rushing to mass produce these phones to clear the backorders, will the quality of the phones suffer, or will crashing methods have to be implemented to speed up project length?

In our class we discussed bottleneck situations and how that may jeopardize the timeliness of the process but this article also brings up forecasting models. Unfortunately forecasts are just predictions. When unanticipated situations arise, these forecasts may not be accurate; as exemplified in HTC’s case. Stock markets also rely heavily on forecasts, thus a company may decrease or increase in value today pertaining an act that will be committed in the future. Only time will tell how long consumers will have to wait for their phones as both companies are working relentlessly to produce more phones.

Do you believe that HTC and Samsung should have prepared better for this problem and stockpiled phones ahead of time to avoid this situation?

Which company do you feel will tackle this issue most effectively?

 

References:

Brown, Justin. “HTC One US Bottleneck Won’t Clear Until After Galaxy S4 Is In Stores?” SidhTech RSS. N.p., 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.sidhtech.com/news/htc-one-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-us-release/1003194/>.

Davies, Chris. “HTC One Turnaround Tipped as Supply Bottleneck Loosens.” SlashGear. N.p., 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-turnaround-tipped-as-supply-bottleneck-loosens-15277830/>.

Epstein, Zach. “BGR.” Samsung Galaxy S4 Deemed a Winner: Shipments Seen Topping Early Estimates. N.p., 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://bgr.com/2013/04/05/samsung-galaxy-s4-sales-estimates-414846/>.

Harvey, Cynthia. “HTC Profits Drop 98%.” Datamation. N.p., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.datamation.com/news/htc-profits-drop-98.html>.

Kovach, Steve. “Samsung Galaxy S4 Delayed On T-Mobile Until April 29.” Business Insider. N.p., 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-delayed-on-t-mobile-2013-4>.

Tofel, Kevin C. “HTC One Launch: Available at 2 Carriers; Web Orders for 1; Delays for Dev Edition — Tech News and Analysis.” GigaOM. N.p., 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://gigaom.com/2013/04/19/htc-one-launch-available-at-2-carriers-web-orders-for-1-delays-for-dev-edition/

HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Marketing Campaigns

 

As everyone might or might not know, the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 launched in April and will be available for purchase by cell phone carriers soon. That being said, they are competing with one another head to head. Both phones are highly anticipated by the general public, and both HTC and Samsung had been doing a lot of marketing for their upcoming phones. HTC is known to have great products, but poorly executed advertising for their phones. On the other hand, Samsung is known for dumping large amounts of money to market their phones thus creating hype among people for their products. HTC recognizes their weakness and is making drastic changes to promote the HTC One.

For the launch of the HTC One, they will not only be focusing on traditional marketing. They will also be doing new media and viral marketing, and from that they will be relying on people’s positive word-of-mouth to help promote the phone. HTC is taking on the concept that Apple has in marketing their products, which is to allow customers to have a hands on experience with their products before buying it. To do so, HTC had set up 11 temporary retail stores in the malls of the United States to allow customers to go and test the phone out. In addition to that, HTC has set up “HTC Live Experience Tours” in populated tourist locations with boom box looking stands to emphasize that the HTC One speakers are Beats by Dre audio. Furthermore, HTC One will be advertising the phone in sites and apps for tech savvy people who are constantly on their phones and on the internet. But is this enough to compete with Samsung’s marketing campaign? I myself tried to get my hands on a HTC One by preordering it with T-Mobile, but it is already sold out. Does this show that HTC’s marketing campaign was a success?

Meanwhile, Samsung has set the standards high with the launching of the Galaxy S4 last month (March 2013). They have built up much hype for the S4 and people were eagerly waiting for its launch because its predecessor the Galaxy S3 was so successful. When it came time for the unboxing of the Samsung Galaxy S4, they put on a theatrical show for the public that can be streamed live on YouTube. There were more than 423,000 viewers that were watching the event as Samsung showcased the long awaited phone at the New York’s Radio City Music Hall. However, after the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S4, people thought that the phone did not live up to the hype. People thought there wasn’t a major product differentiation between the S3 and S4. That being said, do you think that consumers make their purchasing decision based on how the companies have promoted their product?

Sources:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/la-fi-tn-samsung-galaxy-s4-debuts-20130314,0,7829765.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/la-fi-tn-htc-viral-marketing-samsung-20130404,0,1529131.story