These days, several smartphone manufacturers engage with their community to seek feedback and improve their products to better suit the community's needs. Manufacturers like OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Realme have a massive fan following and the companies take their fans seriously. OnePlus, for instance, has its Open Ears Forum to directly interact with its users and improve its hardware and software offerings. On the other hand, Xiaomi and Realme give their top fans the opportunity to attend launch events and they get free merch for their support. However, neither OnePlus or Xiaomi are the first smartphone manufacturers to create such a community. Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC is arguably one of the first to start such a community program for its fans, but sadly, the program has now finally met its demise.
HTC's Elevate was a private members-only community for fans and supporters, with its entry limited by a strict invite system. HTC relied on Elevate to connect with loyalists worldwide and get feedback on its products. In return, members stood a chance to get freebies and get invited to attend launches. HTC required members to be active and log in on the platform at least once each month, which not only incentivized activity but also served to weed out members who weren't as passionate about the brand.
Early last week, a couple of Elevate members faced issues logging in on the HTC Elevate platform. Fans who tried to log in were left with a 502 error, which led people to believe that the company had finally called it quits. However, the forums were back up online in a few days which gave fans some false respite. Now, if you visit the HTC Elevate website you're greeted with a pop-up that states, "Hello — This program is no longer active. Please email ElevateSupport@htc.com for any support needs for HTC products." As of now, there's no official statement from HTC regarding the now-defunct community program.
Via: Twitter