As a company that is nowhere near the form it used to be, HTC have a lot riding on the One, and if it doesn’t succeed then harsh questions are going to be asked at HTC. The One is not just the latest in a long line of smartphones for the Taiwanese company but, perhaps the company’s last hope at staying relevant in the industry as a whole. There’s no denying it’s not a good device, it’s got some of the best specs out there and its build-quality stand above everything else but, can it hope to stand up to the Galaxy S IV and the juggernaut that Samsung has become?
HTC once again managed to announce their flagship before Samsung – although not by much this time – but now, headaches are starting to turn into real problems for the company. There’s been rumors of delays for the device and, we’re now learning that could be because HTC are no longer considered a “Tier-One” supplier. HTC will have wanted to get the One out before the Galaxy S IV, in order to get a large chunk of revenue before Samsung’s marketing machine gets off the ground. Now, it looks like the company will have only a few weeks of exclusivity to enjoy.
Peter Chou, the CEO of HTC, has decided that the One, is going to be his one last shot at success for HTC. If the One doesn’t succeed, he’ll be stepping down. The decision was made last year as he spoke with Senior Executives and, right now, it’s not looking too good for Chou’s employment status. Chou has had a rough couple of years at HTC, he’s had the Press hound his company for poor choices and his own workforce has been rocking the boat. Often there’s somebody that has to take the fall for failures like this and a lot of people are looking for Chou to be that person. It does seem that over the last couple of years, decisions have been stagnant and the overall attitude of the company has been stubborn. Question is though, who would take Chou’s place and what could they do differently to turn things around?