As it prepares for a possibly long battle with Apple on intellectual property, HTC continues to roll out new Android-based smartphones. The Taiwanese handset maker hopes its latest device will catch on like, well, wildfire.
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Dubbed the HTC Wildfire, the new model is a Sense-based Android device laden with social-networking features akin to the Microsoft Kin smartphones. The Android 2.1 device is being billed as an affordable Android-powered device for the budget-conscious consumer.
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HTC has the opportunity to play either the high end or the low end of the consumer market with regards to volume. HTC is rapidly becoming synonymous with the leading player when it comes to Android customization, said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. But for many handset makers, the challenge is going to be how to differentiate their Android phone from everyone else’s Android phone.
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Differentiating on Sociability
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HTC is trying to differentiate its latest handset with the social-networking play, despite the fact that several other popular devices offer the same value proposition. Florian Seiche, vice president of HTC’s EMEA operations, said the Wildfire is targeted to young mobile users. Again, this isn’t unique.
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That said, the Wildfire does put Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images and e-mail in what the company calls a HTC Friend Stream application. The application works to gather and display content from popular social networks and organize them into a single stream. The idea is to make it easier for Wildfire users to keep up with posts, comments, alerts and photos from friends.
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In a feature reminiscent of the Palm webOS operating system, the Wildfire’s address book offers a thread of recent communications with each contact. At a glance, users can see when they last spoke to any given friend. They can also read recent text messages, e-mails and, of course, social-network updates. When a friend…