HTC lost their design chief last week, Jonah Becker, who for those that are unaware was the lead person behind the design of the HTC One M9, HTC’s latest flagship device that is already in the hands of some consumers and will be hitting stores officially on April 10th. It is now being reported that Becker has left HTC as the design chief to take up a role at the popular fitness wearable company Fitbit under a new position the company has created for his arrival. Becker will be joining Fitbit as their Vice President of Industrial Design.
As Re/Code reports, Becker’s new role at Fitbit won’t be his first time working with companies that are solely focused on fitness or sports related products and equipment, as he previously worked with major sports brands like Adidas, Burton Snowboards, The North Face, and Nike just to name a few when he held a role at a design firm called One & Co. as one of the partners. Those details make his departure from HTC and decision to join a fitness related company in a new design role a little more understandable. For Becker, this likely proves to be a more beneficial role in a company who is already heavily invested in a growing market that has much room to expand. Fitness trackers and fitness related wearables are not completely new, but they still have plenty of room to grow and they’re becoming ever more popular.
For Fitbit, whose fitness trackers have retained much of the same look and design since the original products hit the market just a few years ago, having Becker on board could help to foster some new insight and creativity in the design of future products, and since Becker is already accustomed to designing products for many big name companies, both related to sports and tech brands, his knowledge and expertise should come in handy as Fitbit fits into both of those categories. Becker marks the second person to leave HTC who had held the position as Chief Designer, as Becker replaced Scott Croyle just a couple of years ago who was in the role prior to Jonah Becker joining on at HTC.