It seems like HTC’s CEO, Peter Chou is a very brave man. Amid reports that the company’s flagship device will be delayed due to HTC having been downgraded from a tier one customer by component suppliers, Chou has apparently told senior executives that he will stand down should the One not be a success.
Chou has led HTC from their humble beginnings as a small original design manufacturer, making Windows Mobile devices that would be re-badged by companies like HP, Palm and T-Mobile, to one of the most popular smartphone manufacturers in the world, and it would be a shame to see him leave the company he founded in 1997. But if HTC can’t manage to sell the One, which is looking like to be one of the best (if not the best) Android phones ever made, then maybe they need someone new at the helm. Preferably someone who actually gets marketing.
As a fun exercise, let us know in the comments what your first order of business would be if you were HTC’s new CEO.
Really, people have to get over replaceable batteries and expandable memory. Yeah it was nice but move into the future. I’d much rather this gorgeous machine aluminium unit than a tacky plastic one. First order is keep going with an outright unlocked dev version. Enable blink feed to be turned off as well as being able to turn off Sense if someone wants to go pure Google. Personally I like them both but some like the option to not have it. Develop an ecosystem of accessories that fit all HTC devices just like Apples. And finally, commit to software updates… Read more »
Love my replaceable battery and microsd! When I’m at a convention all day so glad I can swap battery due to heavy use.. And my 16gb note ii has 80gb total storage by spending $40 on Amazon for a 64gb sandisk microsdxc card!
Understandable reasons but if you’re going to carry spare batteries you’re better off carrying a power bank. Much more battery power to recharge. 80gb is a lot. My main storage is music and still tops out at 16gb. Too much memory is often a waste. If u like movies in mobile ( I don’t) even 80gb is too small.
As HTC’s new CEO, I would bring back replaceable batteries and micro SD cards into all future devices, then do everything I can to get in on the Nexus program.
Then I’d work on HTC’s relationship with the modding community and help them out to achieve their goals on HTC hardware.
I’d fire anyone who suggests a device name that adds any letters to HTC One “insert letters here”
Basically, I’d follow the blueprint that Samsung has given you and already proven to work!
But the manufacturers dont make much from the nexus devices. Theyd be better off making their own devices and opening them up a little so that the tech people can spread word on how good they are.
They need to simplify their phone line a little like Nokia.
Ditto above.. Plus put power button on the side and get rid of sense!
All phones should have the power button on the side.
Well, it would depend on what they deem a “success” wouldn’t it. He could still claim that it’s a “success” after selling a few million units or have better sales in comparison to others in the One Series of last year even if it doesn’t surpass the competition and don’t step down.
This is a good point. Basically, as long as HTC make some money, it’s kind of a success, right?
He didn’t include an SD card – I hope he does step down.
You know, everyone makes a big deal out of this, but I really don’t care. The last phone I had with an SD card slot was the OG Galaxy S. I never used it.
Horses for courses – I’m a power user. I need as much storage as possible.
I’ll take a 1TB phone if it was available. Which gets me thinking, why over the last 5 years have we been stuck with 16, 32 and 64GB? Is technology going backwards or what?
well manufacturing flash storage is more expensive than a mechanical drive.
On another note, a reason why I love phones like the galaxy s3 that has support for micro sd card storage is also because samsung includes drivers to support exFAT, having a huge storage is one thing but I hate FAT32’s limitation where you can’t put a single file that exceeds 4gb in it.
You are very right. Nothing better than showing a mate how your phone can actually play a 1080p movie (as they are in the 10+GB range…and I only download 1080p)! It’s disgraceful that drive formats haven’t been able to support it – completely ruins the experience.
I don’t see why they don’t have manufacturer UI overlays as an option in the setup. I guess it means they need to have a lot more support on their end, but still… If I was the new CEO I’d see what they had in the pipeline and where we thought the competitors were going to go. Maybe make a few bets on things that were only early stage R&D. Maybe get a decent tablet out the door with more emphasis on accessories too. Maybe look at options to make devices capable of physical customization? Eg, same guts but with… Read more »
Just realized how many times I said maybe. *facepalm*
I’m also tempted to pick up One on release since the n4 lacks lte.. but i’m so happy with stock android, that I’ll fight off these LTE urges for just a lil longer..
I disagree; Customers can’t “pay” for sense. It’s a HTC thing. I think HTC’s missteps were diluting their flagship products. After the Nexus one, they dropped the desire / desire xl / sensation / One X / One X+
They nailed the HW design IMO.
Software was a bit lackluster, but I don’t think it cost them their brand.. That said as more tech savvy person I would’ve purchased a OneXL last year if it wasn’t for lack of ram / multitasking. But I think I’m in the minority who held off the OneXL because of that.
Agree! I love the AOSP look, and there are a few design choices in Sense that irk me, but I don’t think the software on the One X/XL/X+/S/SV/V … (etc) ruined HTC. I think bad marketing and brand dilution did that.
Tone down Sense to the point of stock and release all the different components of Sense as paid apps on Google Play.
Is Sense that bulky these days? There are defiantly added features but if you compare sense now to the original days, HTC have come a long way. I have a HTC One X and Nexus 7 and I really don’t see much of a difference in terms of the feel of Android. The way I look at it, HTC has to build some apps that are for the phone to make it work. Vanilla is nice but these days, almost all vanilla apps are available.
Let’s also compare this to Samsung. Now that’s a butchered Android system yet I never hear anyone complain about it?
I know! No one seems to care for some reason. Just look at what they did to the messaging application. There is no better example of a manufacturer doing it wrong.
Just install chomp SMS and all is good!
You don’t hear people complain about touchwiz? I’ll gladly be your first then! Stock all the way.
Touch wiz is pretty awesome.. I came originally from a phone running aosp and I do like it.. But the extra features does ease usability and I can’t be without them anymore..
Hey, that’s why Android is good. There’s something for everyone. I honestly don’t see any appeal in what Samsung is doing design-wise, but I don’t have to for a Samsung phone to be great for someone else.
Sense is as bulky, if not bulkier then Touchwiz. Although sense might be a bit cleaner.
It sure is! HTC tried making Sense less bulky last year and it didn’t really work out for them. It’s almost as if they’ve gone, ‘Screw it, we’ll do what we want!’ for Sense 5. But I think they’ve actually added some value to it now. It’s not just a way to make Android not look like Android.
Yeah I like it, the only thing I hate about skin overlays is the poor effort the put into the programming side of it. They could run just as fast as stock android if they put an effort into making it a clean stable lightweight skin.