HTC Hints At New One Phone

HTC, the Taiwanese company responsible for the HTC One line of smartphones, has put a countdown timer on its main page, ticking down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to 10 AM EST on Tuesday, February 19, when it will hold an event in New York.

Rumors have circulated that HTC is either gearing up to reveal the next phone in its One line, which was codenamed in development as the M7. CNet speculated in January that it could be planning to use the Mobile World Congress in late February to show off the M7, but it could also want a stage to itself. The timer seems to suggest that HTC will take the latter route in a solo publicity event that it sorely needs.

The name may be a cause for some confusion, as the new device will just be called the HTC One - no qualifier. Consumers may not realize that it is more advanced than the HTC One X+ or the One SV, or the One VX, but that's a job for HTC's marketing department.

Despite creating phones that receive generally positive reviews, HTC struggled mightily in last year's third quarter, outclassed and outmuscled in a field dominated by Apple and Samsung. HTC's One series debuted at last year's Mobile World Congress, receiving hype and rave reviews for all of three months before the Galaxy S3 was released.

In November, Benjamin Ho, former chief marketing officer of Motorola, replaced John Wang as HTC's CMO while the company attempted to change its marketing tactics. It will probably shed the 'quietly brilliant' part of its tagline, head of sales and marketing Jason MacKenzie told CNet in September.

Despite approval from professional critics, HTC just has not seen the same enthusiasm from consumers. Though the company did well in Android's early days, Samsung's Galaxy S series allowed it to overtake and outshine HTC, who had released several different flagship phones for each carrier and is now struggling desperately to win back mobile users.

The first picture taken with the HTC One's "ultrapixel" phone turned up on Monday, as did a leaked render of the M7, which looked very similar to earlier leaks. It may also give users a taste of what may be coming up with the HTC Sense 5.