Despite the fact that HTC has not raised its head in a while, the company does not intend to throw in the towel. A recent report by the Economic Times maintains that the manufacturer is in talks with Indian companies such as Micromax, Lava and Karbonn to license its brand and sell HTC branded mobiles in this country and other emerging markets. This decision would allow the company to maintain a fixed income with very little investment.
HTC would seek to license its brand to produce mobile phones, tablets or accessories. In turn, the association would provide the possibility for these companies to remain active in the competitive smartphone market in emerging countries, completely dominated by Chinese manufacturers. According to analysts, Indian brands have been in decline since 2015, going from a 40% share to less than 10% today. In any case, it must be taken into account that these companies, Lava, Karbonn or Micromax, continue to lack the hardware, software or R&D capabilities that the Chinese giants enjoy in this country, so they take advantage of an almost dead brand like HTC isn't going to magically help you get to the top of the market.
In any case, it is not a new strategy. Nokia or Blackberry went through a similar situation. In the case of the Finnish company, after the fiasco of its agreement with Microsoft to flag the “Windows Phone” empire, it ended up accepting the offer from HMD Global to keep the brand safe with a new approach, under Android One and with attractive terminals At low price. Likewise, the Canadian RIM was able to save its skin thanks to the company TCL.
We have had another similar story recently in our country with BQ. In fact, this year we are expected to start seeing new mobiles manufactured by the Vietnamese company Vingroup with the Spanish stamp. We will be very aware of HTC and its new direction, a leap in its path that we hope this time will give it better moments.
