Time to get better marketing personel

I mean really; if there's one thing the average big IT companies has learned its that you should never "take it out" on fans, because fans are not only potential customers. Better yet; they may even interest other people (outside your "marketing scope") to check up on your products.

Microsoft? Was weary when it came to Mono but in the end (at least up until now) leaves the project be, even though they're "messing" with an MS flagship called .NET. Ballmer? Even though he is a fruitcake he wasn't too arrogant to sign a kids macbook (iirc). Probably running NT, but who knows. Either way; Ballmer didn't start "omg the competition!". And there are plenty of other examples to be found out there, don't get me started on how lenient Sun has always been towards its fanbase.

This is an epic fail. The big bad HTC company against the underdog; enthusiastic fans who were only trying to spread the word of the Lord, errr, phone :-) Guess what /that/ will do to your credibility ?

They should have left this alone. Better yet; during the official presentation should have /congratulated/ these guys for beating them to the punch. You can turn that into a marketing advantage for yourself easily: "Everyone wants this phone, its so bad that people even risk breaking our rules to get their hands on it. See how great it is?".

THAT is how you do it. Take your "loss" and turn it into a win. You get (positive) attention, you get sympathy and you may attract more people's interest.

This only gets you disdain, which can easily work against you. Breaking a reputation is much quicker than building one, never forget that!