Position
HTC was established in 1997, and they positioned themselves as ODM. (Original Design Manufacturer) . They designed and produced products for their customers.
At that time, the most popular electronic product in the market was notebooks. Notebooks were smaller than general PC, and they could get online at anytime and anywhere. Therefore, it was the most popular product in the market at that time. In those days, Taiwan was the largest ODM country for PC. The competitors in this market were many, such as Asus, Wistron, Quanta, Compal, and the Hon Hai Group. Everyone was competing the market share in this market.
When HTC had just established, they could not stand the idea to give up the best-selling electronic products at first, and they invested a lot of time and money in the industry. After all, HTC was just a small and start-up company at that time. They were not well known, and its reputation in the market had not been established. They set up the production lines and all the equipments, but the orders were pitiful then.
HTC was in debt for a while, so they made a painful decision – give up. They withdrew from the competing and profitable market. They shifted their focus on the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
HTC decided to transform from ODM to PDA products. (picture: Miracle Team)