Merrill Lynch says HTC One will be released in four markets this month

As the world's largest brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch has connections with many companies in different lines of business. So when the company tells its clients that the HTC One will still launch this month in four markets, it usually is based on more than just a guess. Merrill told its clients last week that the Taiwan based manufacturer will roll out its new flagship handset in the U.S., U.K., Taiwan and Germany starting as soon as next week. These are four key markets that HTC has decided to focus on with a limited release of the HTC One.

According to Merrill, it is unknown how many units might actually be available in each market. Merrill Lynch analyst Robert Cheng does believe that HTC has learned its lesson from last year's launch of the HTC One X and that once the model is released with a wider distribution, there should be no more issues with the phone going forward. Last year, the HTC One X was released to great fanfare and almost immediately there were complaints about the short battery life, overheating of the device, a yellow spot on the display, Wi-Fi connectivity problems and more.

Besides the component shortages delaying the launch of the HTC One, Chang also worries that consumers might not go for the 4.3 UltraPixel camera on the back of the phone. The analyst says that the camera on the HTC One has to compete with 8MP to 13MP shooters on rival phones and says that HTC is trying to educate consumers to understand that "better photos do not necessarily require higher pixels." According to HTC's CMO Ben Ho, the company has shifted its focus and the HTC One is being marketed to "techmaniacs" who want new features and designs. To reach them, Ho said HTC will focus on social networks, portal websites, bloggers and other digital media to reach the 1.1 billion techmaniacs in the world.

HTC has a great opportunity to start fresh with the public. For now, the firm's main focus is getting the HTC One out in those four key markets before the Samsung Galaxy S 4 does. If Merrill is interpreting the signals correctly, it sounds like HTC will succeed with that, and then move on to the task of releasing its new top-shelf model throughout the rest of the world.

source: FocusTaiwan via AndroidAuthority