Photo: HTC

HTC is re-evaluating its plans to acquire S3 Graphics off the heels of the graphics company lawsuit against Apple being thrown out this week. Though it seems bizarre to acquire a company solely on a litigious basis, HTC has gotten cold feet.

Disappointed with the outcome

A statement was issued to paidContent regarding the future of the acquisition. It’s startlingly frank about the HTC S3 acquisition being solely about, well, suing Apple. ‘HTC is disappointed at the outcome of the recent ITC ruling that stated Apple did not infringe S3 Graphics’ patents. S3 Graphics will continue to appeal,’ reads the statement.

Convinced Apple would lose

The Taiwanese company admits that it has been getting ready to challenge Apple in court through this acquisition, saying: ‘HTC has made significant effort in preparing for these complicated legal proceedings, including a complete legal investigation and comprehensive report on patent and price evaluations. HTC had decided to acquire S3 Graphics based on the strong belief that evidences of patent infringement from Apple were clear and ITC ruled in its initial determination that Apple had infringed two patents from S3.’

Rethinking acquisition

The likelihood of an HTC S3 acquisition has cooled, though, with news that the Apple S3 lawsuit has been thrown out. The statement continues with: ‘However in light of recent development, HTC will work closely in good faith with VIA Technologies and WTI Investment International to conduct [a] holistic re-evaluation of the S3 Graphics acquisition.’

Strange acquisition practices

Wow. Patent litigation and lawsuits in the smartphone world have become so significant that whole acquisitions are negotiated and cancelled on the outcome or potential outcome of a suit. It seems crazy, at surface level. 9to5Mac also points out that HTC and VIA, the current owners of S3 Graphics, belong to the same parent company, making this ‘acquisition’ less than straightforward.

Photo: HTC

Rumours that a quad-core HTC tablet PC called the HTC Quattro was in the works surfaced just a few days ago and they’ve gathered steam very fast, with Pocketnow reporting on the tablet, and outing an image of the device. The tablet device will be built on Nvidia’s recently announced Tegra 3 processor, with an impressive spec sheet to boot.

What it is

The HTC Quattro is reportedly a 10.1-inch tablet PC that has a display resolution of 1280 x 768, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage and Bluetooth 4.0. Other notable features are a 2-megapixel rear-facing camera that is capable of shooting 720p HD video, as well as a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

All about the processor

Other than the rear-facing camera, the hardware specs are standard fare for most top-tier tablet PCs, but it’s in this HTC tablet’s underlying processor where all the interesting bits happen.

The Tegra 3 was officially announced a week ago. Calling it a big deal, we wrote: ‘The quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor will be the first quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU to hit the market. It has a 12-core GeForce GPU onboard, boasting 3x the graphical performance of the Tegra 2 – which was no slouch. Moreover, it will support stereoscopic 3D video and gaming, presumably. It also includes a new video engine that can handle high-quality 1080p HD video running at 40 Mbps.’ Pure power, basically.

Beyond specs

What will be interesting to see with the HTC Quattro is how successful it is relative to the performance of the HTC Flyer and also in the overall tablet PC market. So far sales trends in the tablet PC market indicate that ‘specs’ don’t matter as much as they used to in the heyday of the PC, and that the overall experience is what consumers are going for. How the HTC Quattro will differ from the competition when it ships early next year, Pocketnow reports, remains to be seen.

Photo: Retinafunk / Flickr

Smartphone manufacturer HTC has been on a tear, posting record earnings and unit sales numbers every other quarter. The momentum has not slowed, with the company seeing a profit increase of 68 per cent and nearly double the unit sales it posted in the same period last year.

First the numbers

HTC’s Q3 2011 profit topped $625 million (£390m), on revenue of $4.54 billion (£2.83bn). HTC smartphone unit sales continue to grow at a staggering rate, topping 13.2 million in the quarter. The average selling price of devices was $344, down from the $349 average price the company managed last quarter, but up just shy of 1 per cent from what the Taiwanese smartphone giant managed last year.

The company said that the dramatic rise in the demand of smartphones – particularly HTC ones – in China was a particularly significant factor in the company’s growth. Sales grew nine-fold over what HTC sold in that country in the same period last year.
Chest beating

In a statement accompanying the press release, HTC CEO Peter Chou was unsurprisingly satisfied, saying: ‘We aim to lead the way as the smartphone market continues to expand and change rapidly.’ He continued, saying: ‘We pride ourselves on anticipating market and consumer needs and addressing them before they are realized. We are growing rapidly and responsibly around the globe and continue to expand our leadership in new areas, such as LTE.’

What’s next?

The company says that HTC unit sales will likely range in the 12 to 13 million bracket in the next quarter, up between 31 and 42 per cent from what the company managed in the same period last year, but down slightly from this quarter’s unit sales.

Unsurprisingly, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer also wants to capitalise on the strong momentum it has in China, by distributing to 2,000 more retailers and building a new factory in the region, too.

Photo: mar___ / Flickr

With Google’s latest mobile OS, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, scheduled for a November launch, the familiar game of ‘Which phones will get it and which will not?’ is back in play. HTC is the first of the major Android vendors to commit to delivering the mobile OS platform to as many phones in its library as possible.

We’re trying hard this time

The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer issued a statement cautiously promising to bring Android 4.0 to some of the handsets it already has on the market. The HTC statement says [via TechRadar]: ‘Since Google unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich earlier this week, HTC has been looking closely at the new OS’s features and functionality to determine our upgrade plans.’ It continues, saying: ‘We’re a recognised industry leader in providing fast and consistent upgrades to our Android devices, and Ice Cream Sandwich will be no different.’

Balancing act

What HTC does not want to do with Android 4.0 is bring it to devices that cannot handle its requirements, resulting in an inferior experience to what users have become accustomed to with Gingerbread. Speaking to this, the statement says: ‘Upgrades require a careful balance of hardware and software to ensure the best possible performance and usability, so please stay tuned as we assess our product portfolio.’

The HTC statement concludes with the promise of bringing the upgrade to ‘as many HTC devices as possible’, with dates, specific devices, and rollout plans to be revealed in the coming weeks.

Definites?

While it’s difficult to tell which HTC devices will get Android Ice Cream Sandwich, there are some shoe-ins, I believe. The most obvious is the HTC Sensation – the company’s current flagship Android device in parts of the world. The HTC Flyer might even get in on the act. Older phones like the Desire and anything prior are highly unlikely to get the Android 4.0 treatment.

Photo: viteez / Flickr

Though Windows Phone 7’s adoption is still not at the levels Microsoft would like them to be, the company’s mobile revenue is growing at a rapid rate on Google’s back. A report compiled by Goldman Sachs estimates that Microsoft is on course to make $444 million in patent licensing revenue from Android vendors in fiscal year 2012.

Google’s problem

Over the last 12 months, Microsoft has been threatening handset manufacturers who run on Google’s Android mobile OS platform with lawsuits if they didn’t pay a licensing fee for patents inherent in Android that Microsoft originally owned.

HTC was the first major vendor to cave into the Microsoft patent license agreement, allegedly paying Microsoft $5 for every Android device sold. A string of smaller vendors soon followed suit, with Microsoft recently announcing they had entered into an agreement with arguably the biggest Android fish of them all – Samsung.

Samsung the big difference maker

Of the $444 million Microsoft Android revenues will total, it is thought that Samsung would make up as much as $180 million of that annually. Microsoft PR announced the deal with Samsung in a press release yesterday, writing: ‘Microsoft announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., to cross-license the patent portfolios of both companies, providing broad coverage for each company’s products. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform. In addition, the companies agreed to cooperate in the development and marketing of Windows Phone.’

A serious problem?

The Microsoft Android revenue stream is undoubtedly an annoyance to Google, but there’s a high chance it could become more than just irritating – over time, it could serve as a deterrent for developing Android handsets, with manufacturers diversifying to their own platforms or some other third party OS. While that eventuality seems highly unlikely for the currently high-soaring Android platform, who knows what the future holds.

Photo: mrdoubtfire / Flickr

If ever one needed evidence of how committed iPhone users were to their smartphone choice, a recent survey by investment Bank UBS has found that 89 percent of current iPhone users planned to make their next smartphone purchase an iPhone. Though this is a slight dip from the 95 percent retention numbers the company scored in a March 2010 UBS survey, it is still more than double the closest competitor, HTC, which had a retention rate of 39 percent.

Serving current customers

The UBS survey found iPhone loyalty to be streaks ahead of devices created by competing devices. In third spot was Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, who had a customer retention rate of 33 percent. And, as further example of the BlackBerry maker’s recent woes, that half of the 66 percent loyalty rating found in a similar UBS survey conducted 18 months ago. How much can change in a year and a half, huh?

The rest of the pack

With iPhone loyalty way out in front, HTC and RIM rounding out the podium, Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia rounded out the list with 28 percent, 25 percent, and 24 percent loyalty respectively. The survey questioned 515 smartphone users, determining that Apple’s smartphone was the most ‘sticky’ handset on the market.

This high customer satisfaction or iPhone loyalty – depending on how you look at it – rating is a good indicator of why Apple has become the number one smartphone maker in the world. And, while Apple’s fortunes have risen in step with its high loyalty figures, Nokia and RIM have declined dramatically in terms of actual sales, with the massive dip in loyalty good indicators of this.

The iPhone 5 is expected to be a colossal hit, and this survey is a good example of why.

Photo: HTC

At HTC’s ‘Celebrate In Style’ event held on Tuesday in New York City, the company unveiled its latest handset – the HTC Rhyme.  The handset, formerly known as the HTC Bliss, has a fashion conscious target market in a time where top of the line phones seem to appeal to everyone. It launches in a month, though, so we won’t wait too long to find out if it is worthwhile.

The HTC Rhyme

The HTC Rhyme has a 3.7-inch display, and also features the latest version of the company’s HTC Sense UI. In terms of colour, the handset is available in Plum, Clearwater, and Hourglass, which, of course, aren’t ‘colours’ per se, but who’s going to deny the marketing team their moment? The Android handset features a 5MP camera to with the now-requisite LED flash and face detection, too. It also features a special charm that alerts owners to text messages and calls when in the bag.

The press release accompanying the phone, describes the Charm feature, saying: ‘The Charm is a small light-emitting cube that attaches to the phone by a cord that can dangle from your bag and also be used to quickly pull the phone out of your bag. It also makes it easy to find your phone buried in your cluttered purse.’ A very clever design, and it’s an intelligent extension of what the old HTC Diamond had with its flashing notifier on the phone’s home button.

Is there a market?

It’s obviously geared at a female audience, or those who are very fashion conscious. In a time where the phones with the best specs and good designs are winning market share, it will be interesting to see if the HTC Rhyme can have much of an impact in sacrificing smartphone power and capability – especially in comparison to the phones coming out – in the name of market segmentation.

Availability

The HTC Rhyme UK release has been confirmed fresh out the gate – a welcome change for smartphones – with O2 scheduled to receive the handset on 17 October 2011. Yes, that’s less than a month from now, so if the phone is to your liking, start putting pennies away now to buy it.

Photo: owlbookdreams / Flickr

Where Apple’s iPhone went from being a handset used by the tech savvy, to hip customers, and then the mass market, HTC says they’re seeing a change in perception around Apple’s iPhone. Speaking at the Mobile Future Forward conference, acting HTC America president Martin Fichter says that college kids no longer think the iPhone is cool.

He also took the time to speak a little on the ongoing mobile patent wars, expressing a sentiment we think many mobile phone users share.

I asked them

He based this assertion off a ‘survey’ he ran at Reed College, where his daughter is currently a student. He says ‘I brought my daughter back to college — she’s down in Portland at Reed — and I talked to a few of the kids on her floor. And none of them has an iPhone because they told me: “My dad has an iPhone.” There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs.’ To suggest that he was not necessarily bashing Apple, he admitted that the Macbook Air was considered cool by the college students, but the iPhone? Not so much.

On patents

While his research is hardly scientific, the outcome is interesting nevertheless, and hints to a survey well worth conducting legitimately. The acting HTC America president’s thoughts on mobile patent suits was particularly interesting in that it echoed what we’ve been saying for months. He says: ‘I think disruption is the perfect word for that because it disrupts my day, every day. The problem we are having as an industry, from a very broad perspective, is that energy that should go into developing new technologies and new user experiences goes into fighting off patent wars.’

While it’s nice to see somebody is on the same page as many tech users and writers, it remains disconcerting that it’s likely mobile patent suits and the so-called patent wars won’t go away any time soon. Still, though, Mr. Fichter, funding a legitimate study into which handsets college kids think are ‘hip’ is a serious point of interest for us.

Photo: HTC

The mobile patent lawsuit hoedown sees no end. Last Wednesday HTC filed a patent complaint against Apple, amending a complaint the firm had previously filed with the International Trade Commission. The difference this time is HTC comes into the amended suit with new weapons, citing nine new patents that used to belong to Google that were transferred to HTC just last week. And if you want proof that the Motorola acquisition is already paying off for the Android ecosystem, get this: four of those patents were registered by none other than Motorola.

Motorola acquisition paying off for others

Yes, the very same Motorola Google is in the process of acquiring for $12.5 billion (£7.84bn). It must be stressed, however, that these patents were purchased from Motorola separate of the ongoing acquisition. The remaining five patents were registered by Openwave and Palm before finding their way into Google’s hands, and then from Google to HTC.

What is Apple being sued for, exactly?

The amended HTC Apple lawsuit alleges that Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac computer devices, as well as its iCloud and iTunes services, infringe on various patents. These include a specific way of upgrading software wirelessly, of transferring data between a support chip and a microprocessor, how the devices store users’ preferences, and the way in which a persistent connection is made between an app and a radio modem.

Bring it, Google

Some analysts believe that Google’s indirect intervention in the HTC Apple legal standoff – a standoff Apple was, until now, winning – could upset Apple enough that it brings litigation to Google itself. To date, Apple has yet to sue the search giant, instead opting to sue its Android partners, while Google, for the most part, just sat on its hands.

Florian Mueller, an intellectual property activist, told Bloomberg that ‘This intervention on Google’s part increases the likelihood of direct litigation by Apple against Google.’ I think he’s right. If you thought HTC Apple was big, imagine what that legal standoff would be like.

Photo: HTC

HTC on Thursday unveiled its first two Windows Phone 7 Mango handsets – the HTC Titan and the HTC Radar. And, as last week’s Skype rumours suggested, the handsets both have front-facing cameras, a first on WP7, setting up a future with video-based calling on Microsoft’s mobile OS platform.

What are they?

The two HTC Windows Phone 7 Mango handsets will be available next month already throughout Asia and Europe, with the international launch scheduled to follow thereafter.

The HTC Titan has a colossal 4.7-inch display – which is the largest-screen WP7 phone yet. It has a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm processor and an impressive 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Its counterpart, the 3.8-inch HTC Radar, is made from a single piece of aluminium, with aesthetics being a big part of the sales pitch behind the handset. It packs a 1GHz Qualcomm processor and a not-to-be-sniffed-at 5-megapixel camera.

Well, our secret is out

In a blog post, Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore has finally confirmed that Windows Phone 7 handsets will have front-facing cameras formally supported – a feature his team has been careful to sidestep when questioned on. ‘A lot of you have asked us whether Mango will support front-facing cameras – and now that these HTC phones have been formally announced, I can confirm officially that Mango does support these,’ he wrote in the post. Unsurprisingly, the post mentions video chat support will be one of the features of the new handsets, but stops short of coming out and saying Windows Phone 7 will have Skype natively integrated.

This seems a bit odd to us since the WP7 New Zealand team confirmed Skype integration would arrive with Windows Phone 7 Mango, tweeting: ‘Nice, they just confirmed at TechEd NZ that #WP7 devices with forward-facing cameras are coming with Mango – and Skype will support it.’