Undoubtedly, HTC likes firsts.
After launching the first Android phone (G1), almost 5-years ago, the Taiwanese phone maker does it again today, unveiling the HTC First, with the Facebook “Home” user experience built-in.
For its first “Facebook Home” branded phone, the social network took a page out of Google GOOG +1.57%‘s playbook and was very much involved, early on, in its design as well as the choice of the hardware components.
The First will be available in four colors (black, white, red and pale blue) and ship next week, on April 12th, for $100, with a 2-year contact commitment with AT&T.
“The HTC First is the ultimate social phone,” said HTC CEO, Peter Chou, speaking at the Facebook media event this morning. “It’s the only phone that has Facebook Home preloaded and well optimized.”
Facebook Home features include:
Facebook Phone is not enough to save HTC
Now if history is any guide, HTC will probably not benefit from its first mover advantage, as other partners such as Alcatel Onetouch, Huawei or Sony release their own Facebook phones.
The Taiwanese company continues to struggle against falling revenues and market share. For February, HTC reported revenues down almost 44% from last year, the sixteenth consecutive month in which sales have fallen, year-on-year. And according to IDC, HTC had a 4.6% market share at the end of 2012, down from 10.3% a year earlier.
After launching the first Android phone (G1), almost 5-years ago, the Taiwanese phone maker does it again today, unveiling the HTC First, with the Facebook “Home” user experience built-in.
For its first “Facebook Home” branded phone, the social network took a page out of Google GOOG +1.57%‘s playbook and was very much involved, early on, in its design as well as the choice of the hardware components.
The First will be available in four colors (black, white, red and pale blue) and ship next week, on April 12th, for $100, with a 2-year contact commitment with AT&T.
“The HTC First is the ultimate social phone,” said HTC CEO, Peter Chou, speaking at the Facebook media event this morning. “It’s the only phone that has Facebook Home preloaded and well optimized.”
Facebook Home features include:
- Cover Feed, a constant, fresh stream of photos and updates directly from your news feed and is always present as soon as you wake up the phone
- Notifications that appear right on your home screen
- Chat Heads, the mobile messenger that lets you jump in and out of conversations while you multitask
- and, App Launcher, which lets you view your favorite apps and post right to Facebook on the same spot
Facebook Phone is not enough to save HTC
Now if history is any guide, HTC will probably not benefit from its first mover advantage, as other partners such as Alcatel Onetouch, Huawei or Sony release their own Facebook phones.
The Taiwanese company continues to struggle against falling revenues and market share. For February, HTC reported revenues down almost 44% from last year, the sixteenth consecutive month in which sales have fallen, year-on-year. And according to IDC, HTC had a 4.6% market share at the end of 2012, down from 10.3% a year earlier.
