[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Let's see what the masses

are

buying (or not), shall we?

This is from today's announcement of AT&T discontinuing the HTC First after 30 days on the market when dropping the price to 99¢ resulted in only 15K units being sold. All unsold inventory is being returned to HTC. But look what is selling.

We’re told that AT&T sales representatives do not like Facebook Home or the First at all, and they are making little if any effort to sell the handset to customers.

Right now iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 are the biggest sellers at AT&T by a substantial margin

, our source said.​

http://bgr.com/2013/05/13/htc-first-discontinued-att-facebook-phone/

Let's see how the DNA with its gorgeous 5" LCD display, amplifed Beats audio, and ImageSense camera is doing on VZW, the largest carrier in the U.S.

30 days after launch - The price of Verizon’s latest Droid smartphone, the Droid DNA by HTC, has already dropped at Amazon with the price dropping from the usual $199.99 on-contract price to a more attractive

$149.99

.​

60 days after launch - After dropping to $150 on contract back in December, Amazon has slashed another $50 off the DNA's price tag for new customers. You can pick one up for just

$99.00

​

90 days after launch - Within the last day, Amazon dropped their price for the HTC DROID DNA significantly, making this one of the better steals for a smartphone you’ll find. You can grab the DNA and its 1080p display for

$49.99

.​

Today - As the weekend begins, you know deep down inside what's missing in your life. Happiness, love, and security? Nah, if that's what you were about to say, that's dead wrong. What you need is a big honkin' phone in your pocket running on Big Red's 4G LTE network. Oh, and it can't just be big – it needs to have a full HD screen too. The Droid DNA certainly fits the description, and it just so happens it can be yours for the low price of

$19.99

​

So how's the One and HTC doing against the SGS4 and Samsung so far?

The stakes couldn't be much higher for HTC than they are right now. The One, HTC's flagship smartphone for 2013, launched last month to critical acclaim. Unfortunately for HTC, so did the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Korean phone maker's flagship device for the year.

The GS4 has taken an early lead over the One, according to data from mobile ad firm Chitika. The company measured ad impressions across its network to make this determination. Its data suggests that the

GS4 was responsible for about 0.19% of all the mobile Web traffic

in the U.S. between

April 26 and May 6

. By contrast,

the HTC One, which went on sale about two weeks before the GS4, accounted for only 0.11% of mobile Web traffic

between

April 11 and May 6

.

"The Galaxy S4 seems to already be picking up where the popular Galaxy S3 left off," said Chitika in its report. "With its impressive growth rate, along with the upcoming Verizon launch of the device, it's likely that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will become the latest hit device for the Korean company."

Of the HTC One, Chitika said that it "has started to make its mark in the smartphone market despite limited availability." Compared to the Galaxy S4, however, Chitika said, "It's evident that HTC still has ground to make up competitively."

Chitika also provided some interesting data about how the Galaxy S4 compares to its predecessors and which Samsung devices are still popular among U.S. consumers.

For example, the Galaxy S3 is responsible for 57.8% of all the mobile Web traffic for Galaxy-branded devices. The Galaxy S2 trails with 32.9%, and the 2010-era Galaxy S is still responsible for 7.6%. After just a few weeks in the market, the GS4 accounts for 1.7% of all mobile Web traffic coming from Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones.

A similar breakdown of Web traffic from HTC's smartphones provides clues about the popularity of its devices. For example, the HTC EVO is the most popular HTC device on the market, responsible for 33.2% of HTC's Web traffic. The EVO was sold by Sprint and went on sale three years ago. That speaks volumes about HTC's success, or lack thereof, with its more recent smartphones. The 2010-era Droid Incredible followed the EVO, with 8.9% of HTC's Web traffic. Next up was last year's One X, with 5.9% of HTC's Web traffic. Rounding out the bottom are the One S with 4.2%, the One V with 3.5%, and the new HTC One with 1.9%.

The HTC One has a long, tough slog ahead of it.

​

http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/samsung-galaxy-s4-edges-past-htc-one/240154540

The bottom line is we here dive in to minute detail about 20% brighter web browsing, the importance of design, AMOLED deficiencies, "lag", the significance of removable batteries and expandable storage, and low light camera performance while in the real world none of it matters because those HTC strengths don't sell phones. Samsung hasn't even started the full force of their SGS4 marketing campaign and HTC's most likely used up 60-75% of their annual spend on launch marketing activities. In 60 days all the fanfare about the launch of the One and SGS4 will have died down and they'll just be options sitting on a shelf for people to choose from. Historically, that's where Samsung kicks in to high gear sales wise and HTC peters out. If it happens again this year it'll be the One X vs. SGS3 all over again and we know how that story ended. ;)

So people here should buy what they like and there's certainly been some good information shared but the above pretty much confirms that what we deem important is of little concern to the masses and our arguing over detail isn’t going to change what people buy. And in the end that'll determine who wins because if the One misses its sale targets HTC is going to go through some serious upheval because their market share of 3% puts them below Sony, Motorola, LG, ZTE, and Huawei. Even cats only have nine lives.