HTC buys stake in Beats Electronics

[Lee H]

This could be interesting.

I've not been a fan of the Dr Dre sound, but it could put down an interesting marker in upping mobile sound quality.

 

[Paul.]

I think HTC want to smother themselves in coolness, rather than soud quality. HTC make good products, but its rare to see young'uns with them, their brand could use the boost.

 

[The_Lhc]

HTC make good products, but its rare to see young'uns with them,

Rubbish, I know loads of "young'uns" with HTC phones, not to mention Samsung, Blackberry, etc, etc. I don't see them with iPhones though.

 

[Lee H]

Either way - I think it's a good brand move for them. If it gets manufacturers thinking about portable SQ then it can only help. On my old HTC Desire the SQ was poor tosay the least - that was one of the main factors in me going back to Apple.

 

[Paul.]

HTC make good products, but its rare to see young'uns with them,

Rubbish, I know loads of "young'uns" with HTC phones, not to mention Samsung, Blackberry, etc, etc. I don't see them with iPhones though.

Sorry, not biting today 😛

 

[The_Lhc]

HTC make good products, but its rare to see young'uns with them,

Rubbish, I know loads of "young'uns" with HTC phones, not to mention Samsung, Blackberry, etc, etc. I don't see them with iPhones though.

Sorry, not biting today 😛

No worries, I was just balancing out the thread, answering one baseless statement of "fact" with another equally baseless one...

 

[Paul.]

Your right, I sincerely apologise. I never should have said HTC make good products... (runs and hides, hehe 🙂 )

 

[hammill]

I don't know anyone who owns an iphone. My son has an ipod and would have an iphone if I were stupid enough to pay for it (He is 11 and not getting a phone yet)

 

[The_Lhc]

I don't know anyone who owns an iphone.

The only people I know with them are older, affluent types, they're out of reach of most "young'uns" purely due to the price.

 

[Clare Newsome]

From talking to my teenage stepson and his mates (none of whom have iPhones), the BlackBerry is more popular because of BBM, and Android phones because it's far easier to load/share music/video content than in the 'closed' Apple environment.

 

[Paul.]

From talking to my teenage stepson and his mates (none of whom have iPhones), the BlackBerry is more popular because of BBM, and Android phones because it's far easier to load/share music/video content than in the 'closed' Apple environment.

There in lies HTCs bigest problem: they are not part of the conversation. Android vs Apple vs Blackberry. HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc take all the risk, put up the capitol, have to fight Googles Android patent suits against Microsoft and Apple, but at the end of the day, they are not Android. They are HTC.

Androids biggest problem arguably is fragmentation, but the Android manufacturers problem is that they operate under a very powerful brand that does not belong to them. How do you differentiate yourself in this market when you are not even part of the conversation?

Buying a very trendy up and coming electrical brand with support from a number of respected artist, that would be a great way of differentiating your self as well as buying your self a strong brand. So back to my origional point, this aquisition is not about sound quality, it is about brand.

 

[hammill]

I don't know anyone who owns an iphone.

The only people I know with them are older, affluent types, they're out of reach of most "young'uns" purely due to the price.

I am sure what you say is true, but I would observe that I am 50 as are most of my friends. I would guess that many of them would also count as affluent. I think they are just quite happy with phones that are phones.

 

[The_Lhc]

I don't know anyone who owns an iphone.

The only people I know with them are older, affluent types, they're out of reach of most "young'uns" purely due to the price.

I am sure what you say is true, but I would observe that I am 50 as are most of my friends. I would guess that many of them would also count as affluent. I think they are just quite happy with phones that are phones.

I was thinking more of people in their 30s-40s. Older than "young'uns" but not actually old...

 

[Lee H]

I don't know anyone who owns an iphone.

The only people I know with them are older, affluent types, they're out of reach of most "young'uns" purely due to the price.

I am sure what you say is true, but I would observe that I am 50 as are most of my friends. I would guess that many of them would also count as affluent. I think they are just quite happy with phones that are phones.

I was thinking more of people in their 30s-40s. Older than "young'uns" but not actually old...

Glad I fit the demographic perfectly 🙂