HTC Reportedly Working on Android-Powered Smartwatch

If Samsung’s newly launched Galaxy Gear Smartwatch left you less than satisfied, you might be glad to discover that HTC is very possibly working on its own piece of wearable tech, complete with a camera and running on some form of Google’s Android OS. 

Peter Chou and Cher Wang, HTC’s chief executive officer and chairman sat for an interview with the Financial Times last week to discuss a hypothetical HTC Smartwatch, among other things, which may or may not currently be in the company’s production pipeline.

“[Wearable tech] matches what we do today as a mobile experience overall. That is one area we are excited about,” Chou said. “It has to meet a need, otherwise if it’s just a gimmick or concept, it’s not for people’s day-to-day lives… People laughed at us when we came out with the first smartphone . . . Now everyone has a smartphone. I’m pretty sure wearables will be the same, but don’t judge from what is in the market [now].”

Although it is one of the smaller players in the mobile world, HTC has a reputation for high quality hardware and creative, guerilla marketing campaigns. At the New York City launch of Samsung’s plastic Galaxy S4, HTC reps were on hand, trolling the crowd with live versions of the then-unreleased HTC One, which featured a “seamless” aluminum unibody casing, high-resolution “Ultrapixel” camera and dual speaker bars at top and bottom.

While the HTC One continues to sell well and has helped the company recapture a sizeable portion of the high-end mobile market, firms like Samsung still drastically outspend HTC in advertising dollars. HTC has released special versions of its flagship phone and even signed on Robert Downey Jr. to help promote the product, but despite the phone’s relative success, HTC itself is operating at a loss.  

The recent acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft is also a bad omen for the company, posing the risk of another marketing giant that can overshadow HTC’s technological innovations with big ad campaigns. 

HTC is well aware of its strengths and weaknesses in the battle for market share, and the company has no plans to compete by matching ad dollar for ad dollar. According to Chou, the market is big, while HTC is small, and it isn’t necessary for the company to “beat the other guy who has a 50 percent market share.”

Instead, Wang says the company will continue doing what it does best: innovate, and not just on Smartwatches.

“When the [HTC] tablet comes out it will be something nice and disruptive,” Wang said. “There are a lot of devices to innovate . . . Ubiquitous intelligence is not just wearables.”