The HTC One M8
Many electronic devices come out of Taiwan. Success has been fleeting for several Asian-based manufacturers. Recently HTC said they see their second quarter returning positive numbers, but with declining revenue. Samsung, albeit troubled by the court loss to Apple, has been outselling HTC products. The company thinks its HTC One’s redesign will boast sales.
An Android alternative to Apple’s iOS, the G1, aka HTC Dream, gave HTC a head start a few years back which was soon eclipsed by Samsung’s entry into the Android market. The Galaxy series made a large footprint in the smartphone arena. Lately, HTC has had problems with their supply chain. Part of their realignment plan is to outsource product to contract manufacturers. Another bullet in the plan is a lowering of prices.
As in any industry, money talks and executives walk. Scott Croyle, Senior VP of Design is the latest to walk. After a five year stint with HTC, he is taking his Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Texas to greener pastures, although he will still be “advising” on some HTC projects. It will be interesting to see where his philosophy of giving designers creative license to build unique and emotion evoking devices leads.
Jonah Becker who has worked closely with Croyle as Associate VP is expected to fill the vacated slot. Becker was trained in Industrial Design at the California College of the Arts (also known as Cal Arts).
Jonah Becker replaces Croyle at HTC
Announcing another change, HTC said: “Drew Bamford will lead HTC Creative Labs and focus on innovative new products and user experience strategies.” Additionally, HTC reported stronger than expected earnings based on HTC One M8 sales being stronger than expected. And, HTC plans to significantly step up their advertising push with the M8 as they’ve already successfully sold 500,000 units of the M8, according to Reuters, not just that, but the HTC One M8 is selling better than its predecessor, the M7 which we reviewed. In fact, today only, HTC is offering the new HTC One M8 for $100 off (on-contract) so that you can buy the One M8 for $100 on-contract with a new 2-year agreement.
We’ll keep an eye on HTC to see if these changes cause an uptick in their popularity and their bottom line.
