If you’re HTC, I’d imagine you’d try anything at this point to drum up buyers for your new flagship handset. After suffering steep losses over the last several quarters, the Taiwanese electronics giant desperately needs the HTC One to be a hit.
And it’s latest effort isn’t a half-bad one. In an attempt to make it easier for iPhone users to make the switch to the One, HTC has enabled it to extract data from backup files. This will allow for automatic transfers of photos, videos and more…
Here’s CNET Asia with the report:
“HTC told us that it will be launching a new version of its HTC Sync Manager desktop application for theHTC One with a new feature–it can extract data from iPhone backup files. Data from an iPhone backup (saved through iTunes) that can be transferred include photos, videos, calendar entries and text messages.
This would make it easier for users to switch from an iPhone to an HTC One, especially in the case of text messages, which cannot be easily copied out of a phone.”
Unfortunately, here’s no word yet on whether or not the new Sync Manager software will work on both PCs and Macs, though the current version does. And it’s still not clear if the iPhone transfer feature will be compatible with older HTC phones.
I like this idea, and I think it will benefit the people who decide to switch from the iPhone to the One. But I don’t think this is enough to entice anyone. If it really wants the handset to sell, it needs to seriously—seriously beef up its advertising.
HTC unveiled its new One handset at dual media events—in London and New York—last Tuesday, and it has thus far received positive feedback. It has a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a quad-core processor and 2GB of ram. It launches late next month.