HTC gives cold shoulder to 3D phones at CTIA
The weather is as hot as ever in New Orleans, but HTC's feelings about 3D are decidedly cool.
NEW ORLEANS---It feels like August in New York down in the Big Easy, but as far as HTC's concerned there's still a lot of frost to go around. All the cool breezes though are blowing toward the future of 3D technology on smartphones.
Even though Sprint just announced it will sell a variant of the HTC Evo 3D on its prepaid service Virgin Mobile, rebranded as the Evo V 4G, HTC made it clear to me that it isn't bullish about 3D tech.
When I asked HTC Global Online Communications Manager Jeff Gordon point-blank whether he though 3D was dead, he said, "I wouldn't say 3D was necessarily dead, I mean never say never, but we don't have any new products with 3D in the lineup. That's based partially on customer feedback, what we know the market wants, and also a design decision we've made."
In fact it turns out that 3D capabilities were originally slated to grace Sprint's upcoming flagship phone, the HTC Evo 4G LTE, but apparently Sprint pooh-poohed the notion and it seems market conditions were such that HTC didn't argue.
Mr. Gordon confirmed this and also explained that Sprint was much more adamant that the new Evo sport a kickstand. Frankly I agree since no Evo would be quite right without one.
I personally think 3D is a technology that is dead and buried, at least in terms of mobile devices. It's a neat parlor trick to be sure, but makes more sense in the living room or better yet the local cineplex.
