HTC market saturation - dejavu in practice and result

There's a touch of dejavu about the latest reports around HTC's decision to begin the production of cheaper smartphones as a priority with the reported Desire 8 (pictured below) a starting point. The problem is that the last time they pushed in this direction, it was from a position of great strength - not desperation, as they currently find themselves. 

What HTC need, and are looking for, is market share. They're hoping that producing cheaper phones will be a quick fix to keep pace with the likes of Nokia, LG and Huawei in the fight for the final 20-30% of market share left by Apple and Samsung. However, what HTC need is brand loyalty, and they're not going to get there by producing cheap phones. The HTC One is critically regarded as the best phone around. HTC simply need to be better with their marketing. If they don't market one 'phone of the year' well enough, how an earth are they going to get it right when marketing a series of them? After all, they haven't got a great record with trying market saturation. That's the consumer view. The trouble is, in the eyes of their investors, they need to turn a profit and that pressure is crippling the company. HTC are making quick, snap changes to try and find a quick solution. Unfortunately, I just can't see it working.

Can you?

It's STILL early days for NFC technology, but are we seeing a shift in popularity?

NFC (Near-field communication) has, for a while, been one of those pieces of technology that has promised so much, yet delivered very little. With Android flagship devices holding a greater share of the market, most will have access to NFC, but many won't realise it, or just couldn't care less. After all, what do people use it for? (This is in terms of mobile phone use of course - 'touch to pay' has begun to slowly take shape.) It's technology that has been mooted as useful in many situations, yet most either don't know what it is, or simply do not use it.

However, we might be seeing a shift. In the last 24hrs I've seen two marketing uses of NFC for public consumption, one on the train and the other on an electronic billboard. In a similar way to the deployment of QR codes, NFC technology appears to be enabled via a patch or sticker. This is true of the Metro who are encouraging passers-by to tap in via NFC to collect their online metro. It's also been seen on South West trains to provide tailored offers to travelers on a specific train line: 

Ignore the fact that this link is utterly pointless because it goes to a - as yet - undeveloped site, the technology works well, and could be used to great effect.

Obviously this is *still* early days, but with clever investment it may not be long until NFC is integrated into our everyday lives. iPhone users can not say 'why do I want NFC' any longer (and I see the latest rejection of NFC by Apple as foolish, and completely inexplicable). By 2014, many will be asking the question  'has this phone got NFC?' before deciding to purchase.

Disagree? Is it all just hype, and not leading anywhere? Feel free to comment below.