HTC haven’t been having the best time as of late and there’s even been talk of the company receiving help from the Taiwanese government. It’s also no secret that the Galaxy S III has had an affect on the the company. With Sammy’s latest and greatest still plastered throughout TV and in the internet, you don’t see that much advertising for HTC’s One series. It also looks like the company has forgotten about all but the One X, making the One S and especially the One V seem like abandoned devices. The company has also had to recently close offices in South Korea as well as pulling out of the Brazilian market altogether, not exactly the best signals a company of HTC’s stature can send.
In a company wide e-mail, Peter Chou, the Taiwanese company’s CEO detailed the problems he felt the company has been having, as well as what can be done to curb these problems. The e-mail not only made its way round employees but also hit the board of directors as well as Chairwoman Wang. Chou began to say that there’s always been a lot of talk but, little accompanying action:
“We have people in meeting and talking all the time but without decision, strategic direction or sense of urgency. Bureaucracy crept in without clear ownership. We agreed to do something but we either didn’t do it or executed it loosely.”
Something that seemed apparent to myself when trying my new One X, for a long time I had heard from HTC how they had improved and toned down Sense but, it didn’t deliver and wasn’t a wholly positive experience. For a long time HTC have been at the forefront of mobile technology however, the market has certainly caught up these past few years:
“We are disappointed that our sales are down while smartphone market share is growing, Our competitors can leverage their scale, brand awareness and big marketing budget to do things which HTC could not do. The fast growth from the last two years has slowed us down.”
In the mail, entitled “We are coming back”, Chou concluded with a note urging employees to dream big and to pull through on these dreams:
“Don’t let the processes, rules and norms to impact our important goals. Of course we have to follow certain rules and criteria but don’t let small things kill the major goals. Please make sure that we kill bureaucracy. Stay firm with the hero innovations and make them even bigger and deliver them.”