Windows Phone Thoughts: HTC Care Customer Service Centre

"Reportedly, the center will provide customers in Taiwan with a comprehensive range of services including "personalized consultations on new and existing HTC products, warranty repairs, and other valuable after-sales support." Notably, the HTC Care facility promises "speedy turn-around times" for all items sent in for repair, and unlike Apple's $29 rental fee, HTC customers can look forward to a free loaner should their handset fall ill."



I'll be honest, I'm a little puzzled by this. Not so much as to why HTC are opening up a service centre, but rather - what took them so long? The move away from the ODM business and towards their own branding took place last year, and the Dopod acquisition was completed a few months back. Dopod's retail strategy is to appoint authorised agents in each country they operate in, to handle sales and after-sales service. That has the advantage of reducing upfront costs, and allowing Dopod to concentrate on branding and marketing (the flip side is that their reputation gets tied to however good their partners are). This is great for a local or regional company looking for a low-cost entree into the global markets. Now that HTC are trying to remake themselves into a global brandname, they can't afford such a piecemeal approach - with their own centres, they have greater control over their branding and image (to see what this kind of strategy can do when done properly, look no further than Apple). On that basis, I'd expect to see more centres opening up soon in other countries - or I'll have to conclude that HTC aren't quite ready for prime time just yet.