It is being reported that HTC will be implementing a new release strategy for 2012 in which they will slow down the number of releases and focus on putting out higher quality products.
They will have a pretty quiet schedule for the first half of the year and their first 2012 Android offering should only be launched around April 2012 - the HTC Elite running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Beats Audio. The Elite is rumored to be released on AT&T as the HTC Congressional in early April. The HTC Elite will also be accompanied by the previously announced HTC Ville and HTC Edge.
In our opinion, this is a step in the right direction, albeit one which restrict consumer choices. A lot has been said about the ability of smartphone manufacturers to keep up with the different versions of Android being released. Ice Cream Sandwich will go some way to address that but it is not enough. With fewer models on the shelf, it should be easier now for HTC to start providing proper upgrade support to their users. However, this strategy will also alienate a huge portion of their current potential market and it remains to be seen whether this strategy will pay dividends for HTC in 2012.
