COMPETITION clearly does not bother HTC Corp, what with the company launching its Butterfly 2 just days after the iPhone 6 was unveiled.

HTC Malaysia country manager S K Wong said it is natural to expect competition among leading tech brands but he remains confident the new instalment of its already successful Butterfly series will still fare well.

“Every smartphone has its own strengths, and based on that motto, we use it as motivation to improve our products. This is how we keep ourselves motivated and how we please our consumers. There will never be one single smartphone that will conquer the market ...,” he told The Edge Financial Daily.

The waterproof Butterfly 2 promises to deliver an unparalleled smartphone experience as it boasts the latest HTC Sense 6 experience, a HTC Duo Camera for advanced imaging, perfect for selfie lovers or capturing creative and professional images in and out of the water, and an intuitive Motion Launch advanced sensor which makes daily tasks easier as well as anticipates and predicts users’ needs.

Priced at RM2,229 — almost exactly the same retail price as its predecessor, the Butterfly 1 — Wong explained that in the business sense, HTC did not see a reason to increase the price of each model in the series.

Still, he is confident that the Butterfly 2 — which comes in white and red models — will sell by the thousands on a marketing strategy that will heavily rely on consumer interaction, a traditional practice for most companies with new launches.

Still, Wong said, HTC does not solely depend on quarterly campaigns comprising demonstrations, roadshows and promotions.

“We are one of the early adopters of social media and have run successful campaigns on several social media platforms, namely Facebook,” he said, citing the recent Dot View casing promotion with HTC One M8 for users on the HTC Malaysia Facebook page.

“The campaign garnered positive feedback in which the 1,000 Dot View cases encouraged the sales of the HTC One M8.

“On top of reaching out to our customers through on-ground events and social media, we also work closely with influential personalities using our products to spread the word to their fans to understand more about the products, as well as have public relations efforts to disseminate up-to-date news and announcements out there. We aim to go big on social media for 2015. Do look out for it,” Wong said.

“Butterfly 1 received good response from our users, and thus with Butterfly 2, we expect similar, if not better, response,” he said.

He explained how HTC has always kept an ear open to customer feedback — what they want, their needs and so on. “I believe that is our marketing strategy.”

There is no specific target market when it comes to the Butterfly 2 but in its striking new red model, designed with lifestyle in mind, HTC hopes to capture the attention of women. The white, on the other hand, has an impressive anti-stain feature.

Wong said that HTC conducts a survey on user preference before they officially launch the colours of the phone. He says that while black and white will be staple colours, there will always be users who want to be daring, which is where the Butterfly 2 in red comes in.

“Red is definitely a more striking design, and seems to be accepted by more and more people,” he added.

HTC South Asia product marketing manager Wayne Tang is confident over sales of the Butterfly 2, citing how there is no waiting list for customers to get their hands on the phone and based on thriving sales records of HTC products.

Tang added that in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is one of the leading countries in terms of sales.

What’s in the pipeline? Wong does not rule out the possibility of Butterfly 3.

“Maybe similar but more exciting products. If you notice, we maintain our three main series — the HTC One, the HTC Desire and the Butterfly — and hence, we’ll be sure to stay true to one of the original series in any future product,” he added.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 21, 2014.