Well this is rather surprising news for us. But HTC’s Senior Vice President of Design is leaving the company to focus on other projects. HTC says that this is part of a long-term transition for the company, and he will remain involved with HTC, as a consultant basically.
“HTC remains at the forefront of smartphone innovation. Scott Croyle will be focusing on special projects and dedicated on next generation developments.”
Croyle will use that role as he transitions his replacement into the SVP spot over the next few months. Sounds like a pretty smooth transition to me. Jonah Becker, who was second-in-command of the design department will be assuming the Senior Vice President role. Additionally, Drew Bamford who was in charge of Sense is now in charge of all software. The company is planning to simplify its internal structure and this is the first step in that process.
“Drew Bamford is an experienced and talented leader at HTC with solid track records in leading and building our user experience team. Effective immediately, in addition to his current duties in product development and user experience, Drew will lead HTC Creative Labs and focus on innovative new products and user experience strategies.”
Drew Bamford will now be reporting directly to the CEO of HTC, Peter Chou – who was pretty involved with the design of their devices in the early days. So we’ve got some big news coming out of HTC today. A bit of surprising news as well. But we must remember that change isn’t always bad. It’s usually pretty good. Now you won’t see us reporting that HTC is dead, like some others stated when Vic Gundotra announced he was leaving Google yesterday. HTC is far from dead, although they really need to start making some money soon.
Are any of you surprised with these changes inside HTC? Let us know in the comments below.