Teen leaks unreleased HTC One successor, and HTC isn't happy

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/video-of-unreleased-htc-one-2-earns-wrath-of-an-htc-exec/

by suprgeek • 12 years ago

42 53 12 years ago

arstechnica.com

pedalpete• 12 years ago

I guess this is the last early release this kid gets.

catmanjan• 12 years ago

Publicity stunt?

gum_ina_package• 12 years ago

If so, it definitely back fired. And, no, not all publicity is good publicity in my opinion.

lotsofmangos• 12 years ago

It looks just like a normal touchscreen phone. This level of 'secret' seems hardly worth making threats to kids on twitter over. Not if you have ambitions to appear more grown-up than kids on twitter, anyway.

jackhammons• 12 years ago

This could definitely be a planned move on the part of HTC. I hadn't even heard of the phone until now. Mission accomplished HTC marketing.

triptychs• 12 years ago

And they even had the marketing prowess to use a kid so annoying, inept and clumsy that I couldn't be bothered actually watching the video long enough to learn any real info.

Mission accomplished indeed!

ytch• 12 years ago

Will they unhappy with @evleaks?

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

HTC, if you read this: I bought the HTC Droid when it came out (4 years ago, something like that) and I replaced it with a HTC Droid LTE (and one for my wife too).

Please don't do this sort of stupid stuff. I can't in good conscience buy another phone from your company, ever, unless you apologize to the boy, his family, and anyone you went after for leaking the info (reinstate the job of anyone fired over that).

For the kid: a formal apology letter from the President of HTC, on company letterhead, plus a $1,000 in cash to cover any expenses incurred, plus a handwritten note by the President apologizing profusely, further thanking him for promoting HTC products, taking an interest in technology, along with a personal exhortation to study hard, work hard, listen to one's parents, and do good for oneself and one's community.

Then, perhaps, I will reconsider my personal ban on HTC products.

For those of you who roll their eyes: I had a bad experience with Audi in 1997. Swore to never buy an Audi again. Last year I bought a BMW. This year I leased a Mercedes-Benz. Yeah, we went to the Audi dealer, and yeah, my wife liked a couple of them, but I said no, so they lost out on $35,000.

You may think the consumer is fickle, and you are right: the consumer is fickle and irrational. You publicly insult children, you get automatically added to the shitlist, and you stay there forever. Any questions?

bcguy390• 12 years ago

The real owner of the phone is the one that is going to be in trouble not the kid. However the article did say that neither of the kid's parents work at HTC which most likely means he stole the phone from somewhere. He deserves everything he has coming to him.

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

He's a kid. He might have stolen the phone, or it might have been given to him by someone at his school, or he might have found it on the street, on a park bench, or at a public library. We just don't know. "most likely stole the phone" isn't a true statement.

He's a kid. Is this how we treat children in this day and age? Is this the civilized thing to do?

I don't think so.

Anyway, HTC could simply have said: "Thank you for finding our phone. Please ship it back to us in this prepaid box, and we'll give you a nice reward" (like a flatscreen TV, a Sony PS4 and $500 worth of games, or some equivalent). That would have been completely sufficient.

I'm not saying what the kid did was wrong or not. What I'm saying is that HTC could have handled the situation a lot better, a lot more professionally, and that I hold them to that.

gagaga• 12 years ago

How did they publicly insult him?

mtgoxloser• 12 years ago

RTFA! :)

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

"It's gonna be a bad week for you my friend."

If someone told me that, I'd feel absolutely terrible inside. And that is the definition of an insult.

Since they said that on twitter, that fits the "publicly" label don't you think?

angryasian2• 12 years ago

Your reply reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Judge Snyder lets Bart out of any kind of personal responsibility under the "Boys will be boys" rule. I'm sorry but I don't agree. People should be held responsible for their actions and perform their job duties to what is expected. This child's parent should absolutely be held responsible. We live in a society that wants to take no responsibly and sue everyone and everything for our own stupidity.

tldr: take responsibility for your own actions. Parent should have never given a secret device to a child.

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

Then why insult the kid?

randallsquared2• 12 years ago

The kid did nothing wrong (unless he stole the phone, obviously). Even in the article it says "the person who will be held accountable will ostensibly be the party who signed an NDA to get the handset, not Jamkatel himself", which is exactly the way it should be handled. It's not clear that the kid is in trouble at all.

gph4• 12 years ago

Sure one question; Do you think you're little rant is more important to them than guarding their IP and controlling the release of their products?

Because it isn't. And I can't seriously believe you are telling HTC to apologize. The tweets, though misguided, are barely threatening. And whoever works for the company that the kid knows deserves to get fired. They shouldn't have let the phone come into anyone else's possession, especially a kids.

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

Oh, you bet. The first rule of business is "the customer's always right."

And I fall squarely in their definition of "the customer".

qq66• 12 years ago

"It's not going to be a good week for you, my friend" is definitely threatening, at least to the ear of someone who has watched crime and gangster movies. While these kinds of communciations shouldn't be on Twitter in the first place, HTC would have been far more professional to say "This is a violation of our IP rights and we are commencing aggressive legal action."

joyeuse6701• 12 years ago

That sucks, your wife missed out on what could have been a great experience because of your hang up in 1997.

Sure, hold a company to a high moral standard, but I'd expect the same from you, the ability to forgive.

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

Oh, she's very very happy with the car. She told me that after we sell this one in 4 years, she wants to get an X5.

chris_mahan9• 12 years ago

If you get a queasy feeling after you eat something at a local eatery, and you go throw it up at the earliest opportunity, I don't think anyone would fault you for not wanting to go there anymore.

sirspudd2• 12 years ago

Lots of kids appear to be losing their parents money.

Giving your kids access to tech under NDA is like giving your kids access to guys. You are not going to have a good time.

You can debate the degree to which this kind of secrecy is warranted, but at the end of the day, when you sign an NDA it is legally binding, and you can't simply blame violating that legal contract with a "Kids will be kids"

The phone looks awesome, I really enjoy their design style.

dubcanada• 12 years ago

Access to guys?

I'm not sure that's what you meant, if it is then can you expand?

blhack• 12 years ago

I'm fairly certain they meant "access to guns".

aspensmonster• 12 years ago

Guns as opposed to guys?

eyko• 12 years ago

Well guns kill, NDAs do not.

apunic• 12 years ago

This is the best which could happen to HTC, cheap PR around a phone nobody would have noticed. HTC lost significant market share compared to other Android handset makers Samsung, LG and Sony recent years.

Teen leaks unreleased HTC One successor, and HTC isn't happy

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