HTC continues to struggle, analyst do not think Windows Phone 8 can save them

HTC announced their 4th consecutive drop in monthly revenue last week, with earnings down 4% sequentially and 47% on year.

For the first eight months of 2012, revenues amounted to NT$207.87 billion, decreasing 34.8% from a year earlier, the result of poor reception by the market in Europe and US of their HTC One line of Android smartphones.

HTC has said they will balance their portfolio and place greater emphasis on Windows Phone 8, but analysts Morgan Stanley did not feel this was a formula for success for the company.

"In terms of hardware specifications, we think it will be difficult for HTC to regain share quickly aided by Windows 8-based smartphones given less differentiation except pricing," said Jasmine Lu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Morgan Stanley.

She noted HTC’s Windows Phone 8 handset is likely to look similar to the Samsung ATIV S, and that success depended on carrier support rather than who had the best handset.

"We think the winning formula has shifted from technology to scale, marketing and branding," she wrote in the research note.

This is of course a fight Samsung has been winning recently, and which in the Windows Phone field Nokia has shown much more commitment to. HTC has however said they will be bolder in their marketing, and was extremely confident of carrier support.

“I feel very strongly we’ve got very concrete carrier support in every region around the world including the United States and I’m not talking about just one carrier. Our plan is to go big on Windows 8,” Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s president of sales and marketing said.

He also said HTC would provide “a unique (industrial design) language for Windows phones, a language that can be held up by Microsoft as a flagship.”

With Nokia taking ownership of Windows Phone and Samsung of Android, do our readers think HTC has a chance? Let us know below.