Dear HTC: Please Don’t Make a Wearable Device
By MOLLY WOOD

Last week, HTC signaled that it might develop a wearable device and release it this year.

I, for one, hope this doesn’t happen. I asked HTC for comment, and got this response:

“HTC Chairman Cher Wang has stated that HTC intends to introduce a wearable device by this year’s Christmas shopping season. While we know there is excitement for HTC to provide more information, this is all the detail we can provide at this time.”

HTC has been coy since an interview with Bloomberg in which Ms. Wang suggested the company had cracked the issues of battery life and LCD lighting that have plagued other smart watch releases. Ms. Wang did not comment, though, on the possibility that few people actually want smart watches as much as the consumer electronics industry thought they might, regardless of whether that watch has a nice long battery life or a more readable screen.

HTC is in a precarious position, but with hope on the horizon. Its flagship phone, the One, has been a critical success and it has become a cult favorite among Android phone fans. But at the end of 2013, executives were fleeing the company and there were significant doubts about its ability to survive.

Now, I’d argue, HTC has good will on its side. People like an underdog, especially when that underdog makes a cool phone that takes great photos, has a pleasing and unique metal construction, and isn’t what everyone else owns.

Expectations are high for the One’s successor, reputed to be called either the M8 or the, uh, One Two. With the right marketing campaign — one that will be helped by a $12 million deal with the indisputably cool Robert Downey Jr. — HTC could start a strong comeback in 2014.

The company also plans to release more low-priced phones in 2014 to appeal to budget-conscious buyers and emerging markets. If HTC can keep quality up on these phones (something that’s been a problem in the past, and contributed to a bad consumer reputation), that’s a solid strategy that emulates Samsung’s blanket-the-world-with-phones approach to building market share.

But releasing a wearable could be a diversion into an unproven market at a time when focus has never been more crucial. The company’s comments feel at once like a hedge against the possibility that Apple may release a watch in 2014 — a rumor second in persistence only to the Apple TV idea — and also like an attempt to prove it can keep up with its Android rivals Samsung and LG.

Samsung reportedly plans to release a Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch, possibly alongside the Galaxy S5. This despite a mixed reception for the Galaxy Gear: Sales figures were muddy (the company said it shipped 800,000 devices in two months, but it’s unclear how many watches actually were sold), and reports last October suggested that as many as 30 percent of buyers returned the device after taking it home. Critics generally disliked it.

Nevertheless, Samsung blanketed airwaves and billboard with Gear ads, and one can expect the same treatment with a Galaxy Gear 2 device — something HTC would be hard-pressed to counter.

Meanwhile, LG announced the LifeBand Touch at CES in January, a fitness band with smart watch capabilities and even heart rate-sending earphones, expected to be introduced this spring. (Well, “expected” may be a bit strong; CES announcements are notoriously vaporous.)

I’m not entirely convinced LG’s device is a good idea, either, but at least LG has a deep bench of products and a history of manufacturing everything from robot vacuums to washer-dryer sets to TVs to phones. HTC is barely alive making smartphones, and now has a chance to rebuild a crumbling brand on the strength of a really good phone.

What do consumers want? Really good phones. They have not demonstrated, at least in large numbers, a desire for a matching smart watch.

HTC should stay on target. Build it, get Iron Man to sell it, and perhaps they will come. Build a smart watch that gets lost in a crowd of other mediocre watches, and they almost certainly will not.

紐時勸宏達電別推穿戴裝置 專心研發手機
東山再起 科技副主編建議：只要專心研發手機就好

紐約時報科技副主編莫莉‧伍德十日在紐約時報網站撰文，勸宏達電不要推出穿戴裝置。

宏達電上周證實，今年會推出穿戴裝置，但伍德認為，很少有人真的想要智慧手表。不論智慧手表的電池壽命多長，螢幕多方便閱讀，消費電子業都高估了智慧手表的顧客數量。

伍德指出，雖然去年年底多位高階主管離開宏達電，讓某些人相當懷疑宏達電存活能力，但宏達電仍有成功希望，因人們喜歡弱者，尤其當弱者製造的酷炫手機能拍出好照片、金屬結構獨特討喜，且不是人手一支時，更是如此。

伍德指出，宏達電旗艦機種One已獲重大成功，在Android手機粉絲中有一群堅定支持者。外界對One的下一代機種M8期望很高，只要行銷策略正確，今年宏達電可能非常強勢的捲土重來。

對於宏達電打算發表更多平價手機，伍德指出，只要宏達電能維持這些機種的品質，不要因品質不佳而破壞口碑，這會是爭取市占率的有效策略。

不過，伍德指出，宏達電此刻最重要的是集中焦點，推出穿戴裝置可能會讓宏達電分心，把資源投入未經確認的市場。南韓三星宣稱智慧手表Galaxy Gear兩個月內出貨八十萬支，卻未公布銷售成績。去年十月更有媒體報導，將Galaxy Gear退貨的消費者高達三成。評論家普遍不喜歡這個產品。

LG一月發表LifeBand Touch智慧手環與心率測量耳機。伍德雖然不看好，但她指出，LG畢竟產品多樣化，而宏達電卻只能靠智慧手機存活，現在宏達電有機會靠著優質手機重建品牌，而消費者真正想要的是優質手機，不是智慧手表，宏達電應瞄準原定目標，專注做手機，並繼續找「鋼鐵人」小勞勃道尼這腫等級的酷帥代言人行銷，才有可能迎來顧客。

原文參照：
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/dear-htc-please-dont-make-a-wearable-device/

2014-02-12．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯李京倫