Mobile Phones Platforms

HTC Sense is closing, so go grab your data until the end of April

HTC Logo Not BrilliantIf you do not get your data off of HTC’s backup service at HTCSense.com before April 30th, you are out of luck. HTC is shutting down HTCSense and deleting every shred of users’ data. You might be asking if it makes sense to erase Sense – pun intended. Here is our evaluation of HTC’s crazy thinking.

HTC states that they are under construction of a new Sense and that when it is ready, they will notify customers. However, that begs the question, why destroy the old one before the new one is built, tested, and in place? Does this not alienate their customers and undermine customer confidence?

They are emptily calling the new services improved, but how can they claim that if the services have not yet been built, tested, and deployed? Or are they hiding something from us?

The real question is why HTC would delete their users’ data rather than porting it to the new system. It is a gigantic inconvenience for the user and HTC must realize that there will be many who will lose their data. Those who lose their data will feel justified in blaming HTC, in spite of the warning to backup the backup of the backup data. After all, they would be right in blaming HTC for not conveniently porting the data to the new system. The user did not decide to create a new Sense and they should not be penalized nor put at an inconvenience over it. HTC must take up all the slack. This is a big negative against HTC in the customer care area.

DropBox, Dashwire, and Intertrust/Sync TV might be partially to blame for this. The deals HTC has cut with these companies, including buying Dashwire, spell a big shift for HTC to cloud computing. It makes sense, too, when you consider that HTC Sense Backup was created in 2010 and only for two devices, as well as the fact that HTC never expanded, improved, not marketed the service. It was dead in the water before it got a chance.

Now, HTC is on the verge of unleashing its HTC One series of smartphones, which they premiered at MWC 2012. They will have free DropBox for two years. Now we see the connection in action. HTC is still to blame though. They should have a bundled service in place, even if it is with cloud computing companies, ready to go for these customers who have depended on Sense Backup for their HTC devices. This still spells failure on HTC’s part of customer service.

If you want to retrieve your data, you must log into HTCSense.com and download it in a zip format prior to April 30th. The consequence of missing this date is that your data will no longer exist anywhere in the universe of HTC.

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