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How does HTC follow its critically praised, but only modest selling, One M8? The company intends to answer the question on Wednesday.
HTC
As suggested by the “Double Exposure” title of the New York event, HTC’s announcement may be related to a camera, which would be a deviation from its usual focus on smartphones. HTC is reportedly developing a waterproof camera for extreme activities, a direct swipe at camera maker (and fellow Taiwanese company) GoPro, according to Bloomberg.
There is also a rumor that the company will show off a smartphone built around taking selfies, with the key feature being a 13-megapixel front-facing camera.
CNET editors Scott Stein and Josh Goldman, photographer Sarah Tew and I will be bringing you all the details, photos and commentary from the event. It kicks off at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET, but we’ll start up the live blog about 15 minutes early.
HTC is on the slow road to recovery. On Friday, the company reported a profit in the third quarter but continued to see waning revenue as its smartphones have failed to resonate with consumers like they used to. Beyond its flagship HTC One M8, the company has focused on building more affordable midtier smartphones under its Desire brand.
But the company faces pressure from both directions. On the high end, HTC can’t compete with the marketing muscle and brand strength of either Apple or Samsung, which dominate the smartphone business. On the low end, it is starting to see pressure from Xiaomi and Lenovo, which offer feature-packed smartphones at more affordable prices.
HTC has been working with Google to build a Nexus tablet, although that product isn’t expected to show up at the HTC event. The company is also working on a smartwatch, but that product isn’t expected to debut until early next year, CNET earlier confirmed.
As usual, we’ll be using ScribbleLive to bring you the blow by blow.
