HTC: Owning an iPhone Isn't Cool

Posted 09/13/2011 at 9:54am | by Paul Lilly

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HTC acting president Martin Fichter made some comments that are like to strike a chord with many Maximum PC readers and PC purists who detest iOS. In a nutshell, he categorized Apple's iPhone as a smartphone for parents who aren't concerned about appearing cool or hip, and that they're no longer the status symbol they once used to be.

Mr. Fichter made the comments while speaking at the Mobile Future Forward conference in Seattle, according to Mashable. While there, he recounted dropping his daughter off at college and taking a look around the dorm. What he noticed is that no one carried an iPhone.

"My dad has an iPhone," is what the college kids told him, who themselves were toting around HTC phones, Samsung devices, and "were even carrying some Chinese manufacturer's devices."

That doesn't mean Apple has lost its ability to appeal to hipsters, just that owning an iPhone doesn't mean much these days.

"MacBook Airs are cool," Fichter said. "iPhones are not that cool anymore. We here are using iPhones, but our kids don't find them that cool anymore."

Mr. Fichter might be a smidge bias, though that doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong. The problem is it's difficult to define "cool." It's far easier to point out that HTC is completely invested in Android and Windows Phone 7, which is serving the handset maker well so far. According to figures market research firm IDC threw around in May of this year, HTC accounts for nearly 9 percent of the smartphone market, compared to Apple's 18.7 percent.