According to Martin Fichter, product executive at HTC, we will probably not see Beat by Dr Dre headphones included with an HTC phone for quite some time. Since HTC announced its partnership with Beats Audio last summer, HTC has released three phones which were paired with a set of Beats headphones (HTC Sensation XE, Sensation XL and Rezound). While the HTC Sensation XE was a limited edition handset, the Sensation XL and Rezound were pitched as flagship devices, but neither of them really caught the attention of customers as HTC expected them to.

“An accessory like the headphone doesn’t factor in when someone is buying a smartphone,” Martin Fichter, an HTC product executive, told CNET. “If they want a Beats headphone, they’ll buy it directly.”

The underlying issue is that Beats headphones add additional cost to the phone while the customers really don’t perceive them as adding any real extra value. There will always be a handful of customers who would buy devices which include Beats headphones because they want a complete music experience, but the majority of customers will simply compare the handset’s price to that of the competition and go with whichever one had a better value for them.

We’re not that surprised to see HTC move away from including Beats headphones with their handsets, but we certainly didn’t expect them to make the decision so soon. The HTC Rezound is an amazing phone which was essentially pushed to the side by Verizon when they chose to promote the DROID RAZR over the holiday season even though ti is an inferior device.

HTC isn’t going to be dropping Beats Audio any time soon. Beats integration into their new phones will be a standard feature which helps separate HTC’s phones from the competition. If HTC and Beats really want to deliver value to their consumers, they could probably work about a promotion or coupon deal which would give new HTC handset owners $20-50 off the price of a pair of Beats headphones. It’s not the same as including them in the box, but if does allow consumers to make their purchasing decision based on the phone while offering them additional value if they choose to take advantage of it.

What do you think of HTC’s decision to not include Beats headphone with their handsets?

Source: CNET