HTC makes critically acclaimed phones such as the HTC One, but can't seem to get much traction in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung. The company has been struggling financially recently, with its global market share dipping to a mere 2.2 percent.
So to boost its profile in the U.S., where HTC has phones on all four major carriers, the company is starting a program called "HTC Advantage" (no, not an early phablet from 2007) which will guarantee HTC flagship phone owners two years' worth of Android updates, cracked screen replacements for six months, and extra Google Drive storage. For now, that applies to any newly purchased phone with the "HTC One" name in it: the HTC One, HTC One Max and HTC One Mini.
"Over the past six months or so we've started to spend a lot more time thinking about the consumer and the consumer experience beyond just the phone itself," said Ed Kuhner, the new vice president of customer experience for HTC. "So we're wrapping up all of these consumer benefits, some of which we have today already, and providing it to the consumers as one big group of benefits."
The cracked-screen guarantee is the most financially valuable, as the parts alone can cost over $70. HTC will offer two options there: phone owners can mail their phones in and get a repaired phone back later for free, or they can get an "advance exchange" where a new phone is overnighted to them just as they return the existing phone for $29 shipping.
HTC phones include HTC Backup software, which saves a phone's basic settings and setup, but third-party data such as saved games will be lost, Kuhner said.
"Our backup team is working to try and solve that problem; it's elusive to them right now," he said.
Right now, no other phone manufacturer will replace a cracked screen for free, although it's a benefit offered under wireless carriers' monthly insurance plans. To replace a cracked iPhone screen under Apple's AppleCare+ extended-warranty program costs $49, for instance; it's $229 without the warranty.
An Android Update Promise
HTC is also promising to update all One-series phones to the most recent version of Android for two years after the phone's release. There's a catch in this, though: HTC only promises "major" versions of Android, the ones named after new desserts. Jelly Bean, for instance, was 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3; HTC would only promise one of those, but it would promise 4.4 because it has a new candy name (KitKat.)
The company also won't promise to deliver the updates in a specific amount of time, although "I think we're going to challenge ourselves, like we challenged ourselves to do Kit Kat in 90 days," Kuhner said.
The U.S. carriers are on board with this plan, although their approvals will still probably cause more delays. HTC has recently gotten much more transparent with its Android updates, showing them all on an attractively graphical Web page.
Android updates continue to be a contentious topic for phone owners. Back in 2011, most of the top Android manufacturers and Google promised swift upgrades to the latest version of Android for 18 months after a phone's release, but they never delivered on that promise. While flagship phones like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are getting attention, the AT&T HTC One X+ - which is curently about 15 months old - will not be receiving Android 4.4 KitKat, according to HTC's page.
HTC Advantage may eventually spread to other HTC phone lines, said HTC's PR director, Tom Harlin.
"As other product lines expand in the US, we'll definitely be considering how HTC Advantage would help those customers as well," he said.