It’s Been A Long Time Coming

We’ve been waiting for HTC’s return to the Philippines for quite some time now and the launch of four great products is an awesome way to mark their comeback. We had a chance to sit down with a couple of the company’s execs, Wayne Tang and Karthik Arasu, to find out what the company has planned as they navigate through the landscape that has vastly changed since they were in the country.

Playing the Long Game

It may have taken awhile, but HTC has been biding their time to re-enter the country seeing as it is a very important market to the company. With their flagship — the HTC U11 — leading the way for their other strong offerings (such as: the HTC U Ultra, HTC U Play, and Desire 10 Pro), the time was ripe to make their return. We asked Mr. Tang and Mr. Arasu what their game plan was; especially since the company is facing some rather stiff competition in the Philippines.

The answer was simple. Slow and Steady.

Mr. Arasu said that it would have been easy to spend money on marketing and promoting their return heavily, but HTC wanted to make sure that everything was in order before they made a grand splash.  Though their products are exclusively available via Lazada at the moment, they are taking the required steps to bring it to retail outlets as well. As they expand their channels, you can expect to see more marketing efforts on that end, but they’ll moving in the online space for now.

Official Warranties and 14-Day Guarantees

A deep concern for all of us is, of course, a guarantee in the unlikely event that something goes horribly wrong with your smartphone after dropping some serious cash on it. Mr. Tang was quick to assure us that each of their products, bought through the appropriate channel, will be covered by an official one year warranty and 14-day DOA; meaning, you don’t have to worry if your phone decides to konk out on you through no fault of your own, for some reason.

After Sales Channels

After sales channels go hand-in-hand with product warranties and this is another area of concern we’re sure a lot of you are wondering about and we were too. HTC will be announcing their official partner for after sales and how they will be handling returns and repairs within the next 15 days. They encourage us to stay tuned via the HTC Philippines Facebook Page and Twitter account. Both, Mr. Tang and Mr. Arasu, guarantee that the support system for their products will be in place to give the market peace of mind when they do decide to purchase their products. We’ll also be keeping an eye out for their announcements, so do stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, you can check out our reviews for the HTC U Play and U Ultra, plus our initial impressions of their flagship, the U11, and their mid-ranged contender, the Desire 10 Pro.

Read: HTC U Play Review: Midrange That Feels Like a Flagship
Read: HTC U Ultra Review: Big Revolution
Read: HTC U11 Quick Review: The Squeezable Flagship
Read: HTC Desire 10 Pro Quick Review: Midranged Phone, Premium Looks