6 ms·

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

42 points by suprgeek 13y ago

pedalpete 13y ago
I guess this is the last early release this kid gets.
catmanjan 13y ago
Publicity stunt?
- gum_ina_package 13y ago
  If so, it definitely back fired. And, no, not all publicity is good publicity in my opinion.
lotsofmangos 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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!
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
ytch 13y ago
Will they unhappy with @evleaks?
chris_mahan 13y 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 13y 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_mahan 13y 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.
sirspudd 13y 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 13y ago
  Access to guys? I'm not sure that's what you meant, if it is then can you expand?
  - blhack 13y ago
    I'm fairly certain they meant "access to guns".
  - aspensmonster 13y ago
    Guns as opposed to guys?
- eyko 13y ago
  Well guns kill, NDAs do not.
apunic 13y 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.

42 points by suprgeek 13y ago

pedalpete 13y ago

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

catmanjan 13y ago

Publicity stunt?

gum_ina_package 13y ago
If so, it definitely back fired. And, no, not all publicity is good publicity in my opinion.

lotsofmangos 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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!
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

ytch 13y ago

Will they unhappy with @evleaks?

chris_mahan 13y 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 13y 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_mahan 13y 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.

sirspudd 13y 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 13y ago
Access to guys? I'm not sure that's what you meant, if it is then can you expand?
- blhack 13y ago
  I'm fairly certain they meant "access to guns".
- aspensmonster 13y ago
  Guns as opposed to guys?
eyko 13y ago
Well guns kill, NDAs do not.

apunic 13y 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.