By There is no doubt that Android enthusiasts love the HTC Hero. And while HTC manufactured the phone in hopes it would be loved, I’m not sure they anticipated it would be loved THIS much. According to DigiTimes, European and Asian markets are having a hard time keeping supply of the HTC Hero up to pace with demand:
The tight production will not be eased until November and the sales momentum of HTC Hero is expected to continue in the first quarter of 2010, Tong asserted.
That’s Jack Tong, VP of Asia Pacific at HTC, talking about “tight production”. So the HTC Hero is selling absolutely amazingly yet the company posted an 18% decline in profits for 3rd Quarter 2009. Why? Because Windows Mobile sucks and unfortunately HTC is the largest manufacturer of those unfortunate devices.
HTC has also incurred a lot of expenses in marketing their Android Phones but I’m really glad to see their efforts are paying off. They deserve praise for being first to the market with Android (Dream/G1). Oh yeah… and 2nd to the market with Android (Magic/MyTouch). And wait a minute… basically also 3rd to the market with Android (Hero). And it isn’t like these phones were rushed. They all are great devices with huge customer bases. And I should add… HAPPY customer bases who are still enjoying the product a year after their release.
HTC got a huge head start but by no means have “won” the race. They’ve got newfound pressure for Motorola, Samsung and others going into the holiday season. The Android “lead” won’t be determined for some time as Tong himself admits:
It will probably have to wait until the second half of 2010 to see who has actually won the market, Tong argued.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see HTC winning this race in that time frame. And even if they aren’t… they’ll undoubtedly be at the front of the pack.
Great article and many props to HTC for being the tip of the iceberg so to speak.
Here’s to hoping the HTC Hero makes its way onto Verizon.
Wow, when I got this phone a few months ago I never suspected that people would be able to see through iPhone delusion and see the light that is the Hero.
HTC truly owns the Android market!
Good to hear. I wish we had the European version of Hero here stateside ..
Sprint Hero is supposedly in back order.
Its too bad we can’t get the true version of the Hero in the U.S. I’m sure it would continue to sell like hotcakes here with how much style it has. I guess for now I can only hope another carrier (TMo please!) will pick that version up in due time.
why they keep putting WinMo in the flagship devices, I’ll never understand. The “Dragon” should have been here this season. now Motorola and A1 have leap-frogged them. I love the hero, but they really need to commit.
Best buy has Sprint Hero in stock.
Now if only HTC would work on the 1.6 update for the Hero to stop the force close string that is com.android.phone
How come all the carriers seem to have the sense to get with Sense (give me an “A” for effort) except one? What type of nonsense is this?? Project Dark isn’t going to mean much if the phones aren’t the ones that people are excited to have.
So how is the Sprint Hero selling any early numbers?
So far Sprint hasnt even put one ad on this beauty.
My guess is that a lot of the sales of the Sprint Hero are to dissatisfied Pre owners. I certainly fall into that category. There is a lot of interest in the Hero on the precentral.net boards as well as some rather heated discussion about switching from the Pre to the Hero.
I emailed HTC Europe (for UK) this week and they said that the 1.6 Donut upgrade ‘should’ be with us ‘within the month’ whatever that means?!
Wasn’t the Samsung Galaxy out before the Hero?
I’m starting to wonder if HTC have realised the limits of the HERO processor – will we see android 2 working on the HERO?