Smartphone Thoughts: HTC Launching US Brand Awareness Campaign

"In apparent anticipation of their upcoming "game changing" May 6th announcement, HTC is getting ready to launch their first ever North American brand awareness campaign. The Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for its carrier-branded devices, but has recently begun dabbling with promoting their own brand. Hoping to raise brand awareness and further solidify its place at the top of the Windows Mobile (and upcoming Android) food chain, they've prepared a commercial campaign that should hit movie theatres, in-flight entertainment screens, television, print, and outdoor ad spots alike beginning this week. The first ad is already out, and besides us begging them to change the Apple-esque ending (no, really, we begged), the commercial is actually quite well done. Could HTC be planning to expand their direct-to-consumer retail business a la Nokia and Apple? We're not sure, but they certainly have our vote of confidence if they go down that road."

I could sure go for a phone manufacturer in the US marketing directly to consumers. An unlocked phone will easily work on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, and supposedly Verizon is opening their network to non-Verizon devices, so we may be starting down the path of picking devices and carriers separately, something the Europeans have been able to easily do since the beginning of their cellular service.