Friday, 21 July 2017

HTC Returns to the Philippines with HTC U11 on August 2, 2017

In 2013, Taiwanese electronics company HTC closed its headquarters in various countries around the world - including the Philippines - to streamline its operations as it tries to recover from its financial woes.

HTC's decision to halt the official sale of its handsets in our country back then left the brand's millions of Pinoy fans hanging and wishing for the day when HTC phones would again be available in authorized retail outlets.

HTC Philippines, HTC U11

Fast forward to today - July 21, 2017, it's safe to say that the wishes of Filipino HTC fans have come true.

This afternoon, I received an invitation from HTC's new PR agency in the Philippines for an exclusive media event on August 2, 2017 heralding the return of the brand in the Philippines via the official launch of the 2017 flagship handset HTC U11 along with other new HTC Android smartphone models.

HTC Philippines, HTC U11

To quote the emailed invite:

"Hi Sir Mark!

HTC will officially return in the Philippines on August 2, 2017, with an exclusive launch “PH Meets the Brilliant U” at [an exclusive venue in NCR].

In line with this, we would like to invite TechPinas to be part of this event. It’s a great way to get hands-on with HTC’s product range, especially our latest flagship phone – the HTC U11, and see what it’s all about. [...]

Thank you so much for your support and we hope to Meet U there!"


After replying to the email to confirm that TechPinas will grace the event, I asked the PR representative the one question that I'm sure many of you also have in your minds regarding this comeback: Is the entity behind the local release of these new products HTC as the company itself or just the brand's official distributor in the Philippines?

The answer was very straight-forward: "HTC has selected an official distributor in the Philippines. It has not revived its direct operations in [our country]. HTC has engaged a local representative for Business Development that works closely with HTC Singapore and HTC India."

Interesting. So it looks like HTC has gone the way of OnePlus and a couple of Chinese brands in officially launching products in our market through a local distribution partner, eliminating the need to open a full scale headquarters in the Philippines.

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