I don't understand this rationale. What is the problem here? HTC is releasing a device in China that appears to be a variant of the One. Only one Android OEM has released a single, identical device across all carriers worldwide. That was Samsung with the GS3. That wasn't their only device obviously, but they all looked identical. If you zoom in or out on pictures of every Samsung device released last year so they all show up the same size on a page, I think they all look exactly the same. And there is nothing wrong with that, but it's a fact. As long as HTC is not selling this as a variant of the One I don't understand what the problem is. From a marketing standpoint I get it, a little. It looks like a One so they should call it a One. But let's cut HTC a little slack here. It took Samsung three full generations of the Galaxy series to launch their singular device. The OG Galaxy devices were all over the map and GS2 was probably more frustrating because they were all almost identical, but just different enough to make cases and screen protectors carrier-specific. This is only HTC's second generation of devices in one series, so I'd say they're a little bit ahead of the curve.
And the software/fragmentation argument is so flawed. When HTC gets the next great Android update playing nice w/ Sense and their camera and image sensor then they'll roll it out. We'll still be waiting for awhile because we're not GSM, but we'll get it eventually. If it were OEMs causing delays because of under-staffing then tell me why every GS3 didn't get JB at the same time. I don't think Samsung is having issues hiring software folks. Every Nexus device isn't updated at the same time either. And why are our One X bretheren on AT&T still waiting for their JB update? That certainly can't be HTC. Obviously they have Sense and JB playing nice. Everyone else has it on the One X (including our EVOs). And it's not like they have to worry about CDMA drivers and the like, since Android architecture is build on GSM technology. It seems like maybe the carriers have a lot to do with it. A whole lot. Just ask folks on Verizon about their super-fast update schedules.