Enjoy your HTC Ones, that's the last flagship you'll ever get from HTC.

[0dev]

R.I.P. HTC

The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One.

It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession — most recently Jason Gordon, the company's vice president of global communications. Other fresh departures include global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, director of digital marketing John Starkweather, and product strategy manager Eric Lin.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4...ures-disastrous-first-and-production-problems

Another high-level HTC executive has left the company. CNET reports that HTC Asia's CEO Lennard Hoornik has now parted ways with the company after being on leave for two months. [...] Today's news comes after we revealed that HTC Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera — who was in charge of the company's entire product line — left the Taiwanese manufacturer last week. We also reported on the growing disarray at HTC's North American headquarters, and those problems aren't restricted to the US. One source described HTC as a company in "utter freefall."

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/22/4355290/htc-asia-ceo-lennard-hoornik-leaves-company

Considering my experiences with HTC's products in the past few years I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

[3bs]

Don't you think that's a bit exaggerated? So HTC are shutting down their phone division in your opinion?

 

[spinedoc77]

What a shame, I still have fond memories of HTC's phones in the past. Maybe the One will become a collectors item?

I was hoping HTC would have become a good competitor to Samsung, although the S4 had a decent hardware upgrade there wasn't anything really exciting about it, at least HTC pushed the envelope a bit in hardware design. Who does Samsung really have to worry about now, Nokia?!? Apple certainly isn't doing anything exciting, although maybe they will prove me wrong in a couple of weeks.

 

[MRU]

Could your post be any more sensationalistic, and we have already posted this.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17299103/

But didn't feel the need to put misleading thread titles that are clearly only there to arouse argument.

Twist an already sensationalistic Verge article so that it suits your agenda.

Epic Thread fail....





Engadget

According to the outlet's sources, Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho could be partly responsible for the changes since he's said to be moving the outfit's planning and strategy back to its Taipei HQ. With Peter Chou pinning poor marketing as what held the company back in 2012, it's certainly possible things are being reeled back to home base -- not unlike Nokia's own centralization in recent years

With HTC’s fall from prominence in the U.S., it’s possible — likely even — that the Tawian-based company consolidates operations back to its home country. With Apple and Samsung dominating U.S. phone sales, it may make sense for HTC to concentrate more effort on the bigger opportunities in Asia. To do so really doesn’t require much of a U.S. presence, sadly.

an as Peterg2 put it

This is definitely sensationalist. All you have to do is a bit of checking of sources which took a few minutes.

Kouji Kodera, the chief product officer, and the leading individual in this story, was already anticipated (on New Year's Eve, 2012) to leave the company by the end of Q1 2013:

To quote:

Goldman Sachs' remarks came after Taiwanese media Commercial Times reported Dec. 31 that Kouji Kodera and Matthew Costello, HTC's chief product officer and chief operating officer, will leave the company by the end of the first quarter of 2013.


http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201301030007.aspx

Yes,

So this is news???

As regards the lesser players, I have not bothered to check on this but you will see that the only source - *as of my writing this* is the verge and sources quoting them.

HTC is definitely in trouble but this article is simply, somewhat like another site I will not mention, is in the business of page hits.

 

[0dev]

Could your post be any more sensationalistic, and we have already posted this.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17299103/

But didn't feel the need to put misleading thread titles that are clearly only there to arouse argument.

Twist an already sensationalistic Verge article so that it suits your agenda.

Epic Thread fail....

I think this news is big enough to deserve its own thread, don't you?

How is it misleading, may I ask? The company is virtually bankrupt already, their latest product was pulled from shelves after a month due to poor sales, and now everyone's leaving.

 

[3bs]

What a shame, I still have fond memories of HTC's phones in the past. Maybe the One will become a collectors item?

I was hoping HTC would have become a good competitor to Samsung, although the S4 had a decent hardware upgrade there wasn't anything really exciting about it, at least HTC pushed the envelope a bit in hardware design. Who does Samsung really have to worry about now, Nokia?!? Apple certainly isn't doing anything exciting, although maybe they will prove me wrong in a couple of weeks.

Maybe when Nokia can start making Android phones but right now I don't see them being that much of a competitor to Samsung.

 

[robanga]

A little early to call a company's demise. ( ahem...Apple in the 90s), but regardless if you are correct or incorrect:

The HTC One that i am using as my 2nd phone at present is amazing. Design, Software, Speed etc. The One X i had before it was also better than pretty good. I've been using Android phones from Motorola and Samsung as well the entire time.

 

[Peterg2]

R.I.P. HTC



http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4...ures-disastrous-first-and-production-problems



http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/22/4355290/htc-asia-ceo-lennard-hoornik-leaves-company

Considering my experiences with HTC's products in the past few years I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

Regardind the first point, as I pointed out elsewhere here, it would appear that Mr Kodera was going to be out the door months ago:

"Goldman Sachs' remarks came after Taiwanese media Commercial Times reported Dec. 31 that Kouji Kodera and Matthew Costello, HTC's chief product officer and chief operating officer, will leave the company by the end of the first quarter of 2013."

The "rebuttal" of HTC to this:

"HTC rebutted the report, saying that the company has sufficient workforce and has built an appropriate management structure to ensure its future development and stable operations."

That is not a rebuttal.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201301030007.aspx

What do I think? He was pushed out the door due to the failures of HTC last year.

A relatively minor point regarding the second point. CNET cannot even bother to check the titles of executives. Hoornik was NOT the CEO of HTC Asia. He was the President of "South Asia Pacific" which includes " Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand" but NOT "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and China".

But hey, saying CEO of HTC Asia sounds even better.

 

[0dev]

Maybe when Nokia can start making Android phones but right now I don't see them being that much of a competitor to Samsung.

The only Android maker actually turning a profit from it is Samsung. If anything, what's happening with HTC is evidence Nokia shouldn't have become just another Android maker.

 

[2298754]

Because they don't make poor quality hardware like HTC

 

[0dev]

Regardind the first point, as I pointed out elsewhere here, it would appear that Mr Kodera was going to be out the door months ago:

"Goldman Sachs' remarks came after Taiwanese media Commercial Times reported Dec. 31 that Kouji Kodera and Matthew Costello, HTC's chief product officer and chief operating officer, will leave the company by the end of the first quarter of 2013."

The "rebuttal" of HTC to this:

"HTC rebutted the report, saying that the company has sufficient workforce and has built an appropriate management structure to ensure its future development and stable operations."

That is not a rebuttal.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201301030007.aspx

What do I think? He was pushed out the door due to the failures of HTC last year.

A relatively minor point regarding the second point. CNET cannot even bother to check the titles of executives. Hoornik was NOT the CEO of HTC Asia. He was the President of "South Asia Pacific" which includes " Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand" but NOT "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and China".

But hey, saying CEO of HTC Asia sounds even better.

Of course HTC are going to claim they're still doing well with all their top guys fleeing the company. Doesn't make it true though.

 

[3bs]

The only Android maker actually turning a profit from it is Samsung. If anything, what's happening with HTC is evidence Nokia shouldn't have become just another Android maker.

I probably wouldn't buy a Nokia Android phone but I frequently see people saying they wish Nokia made them because they like Nokia's design and hardware quality.

 

[zbarvian]

Whether or not HTC will continue to produce phones, this is a big deal. The company's dying quickly, and it's not good for the One. Educated consumers like us are really the majority of the people who are going to buy the One, and hearing this kind of management shift is going to shake the confidence of prospective buyers. Nobody wants a phone from a soon-to-be-dead company, regardless of how good it is.

 

[jrswizzle]

I think this news is big enough to deserve its own thread, don't you?

How is it misleading, may I ask? The company is virtually bankrupt already, their latest product was pulled from shelves after a month due to poor sales, and now everyone's leaving.

How many thought the "Facebook phone" would be a success?

HTC didn't likely pin too many hopes on the First.....the HTC One is their 2013 baby. As it goes, so HTC goes. And by all accounts its going pretty well.

 

[MRU]

Whether or not HTC will continue to produce phones, this is a big deal. The company's dying quickly, and it's not good for the One. Educated consumers like us are really the majority of the people who are going to buy the One, and hearing this kind of management shift is going to shake the confidence of prospective buyers. Nobody wants a phone from a soon-to-be-dead company, regardless of how good it is.

1 sensationalist written report from the Verge does not constitute a company dying a death.

 

[Peterg2]

Of course HTC are going to claim they're still doing well with all their top guys fleeing the company. Doesn't make it true though.



Right...

How do you know they are "fleeing the company"? It could well be "clean-up" in their eyes, heads rolling for HTC's extremely poor 2012 performance. As I said before, the Chief Product Officer was already going out the door on December 31, 2012.

 

[0dev]

How many thought the "Facebook phone" would be a success?

HTC didn't likely pin too many hopes on the First.....the HTC One is their 2013 baby. As it goes, so HTC goes. And by all accounts its going pretty well.

Got a source for that? Because, erm, HTC's last quarterly report didn't look so great, nor does all the execs leaving, especially when they say stuff like this:

To all my friends still at @HTC - just quit. leave now. it’s tough to do, but you’ll be so much happier, I swear.

They're in utter freefall.

----------

How do you know they are "fleeing the company"? It could well be "clean-up" in their eyes, heads rolling for HTC's extremely poor 2012 performance. As I said before, the Chief Product Officer was already going out the door on December 31, 2012.

See my previous post.

 

[robanga]

" Net profit for the handset maker tumbled to NT$85 million ($2.85 million) from NT$4.5 billion ($152 million) a year ago, a drop of 98 percent.
It's the company's lowest quarterly profit since 2004. Revenue plunged too, to NT$42.8 billion from NT$67.8 billion, the company confirmed in Thursday's earnings call."

A precipitous year over year decline in profits does not a bankruptcy make. I imagine things were pretty bad for them in 2004 also, A lot of companies string losses along for many quarters, they actually made a profit.

It will be interesting to see how the One effects their balance sheet sheet for the next quarter and whether the return of all those HTC Firsts will negate whatever positive effect it brings. In light of the Y/Y drop though, a management shake up is not very surprising.

 

[MRU]

HTC One doubles production in May...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=jNb8V3lMDdDt4xu73IYFnA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.apktopsites.com/htc-to-r...ion-volume-in-the-coming-monthsthe-droid-guy/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=BoU9Xt93PYjqjah7DXz2-w&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=WxPcAAzfr5NAQJgB-hHguQ&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=g1FhTIaTEKzhQyKd7Y050w&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=qQG1ZMVLH5dS7W7JaK98dA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=yCCs2-O7GrhyeyFZPH4cYg&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=xgHN5EciYcystam-5THbHQ&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=GReUnjQlo9Pv6Z7q9ow9lw&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=UJ5s1mOissIPVBzhCTdqFA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=bvhNW3gNI8gbMtxb8e4B3A&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=ssBOqDExnSA1DAoMHov8UA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=X_CiGLrVbLEzT_EKH53KJw&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU



So much for a company that's dead......

 

[0dev]

" Net profit for the handset maker tumbled to NT$85 million ($2.85 million) from NT$4.5 billion ($152 million) a year ago, a drop of 98 percent.
It's the company's lowest quarterly profit since 2004. Revenue plunged too, to NT$42.8 billion from NT$67.8 billion, the company confirmed in Thursday's earnings call."

A precipitous year over year decline in profits does not a bankruptcy make. I imagine things were pretty bad for them in 2004 also, A lot of companies string losses along for many quarters, they actually made a profit.

It will be interesting to see how the One effects their balance sheet sheet for the next quarter and whether the return of all those HTC Firsts will negate whatever positive effect it brings. In light of the Y/Y drop though, a management shake up is not very surprising.

In 2004 they were a tiny company making grey label Windows Mobile devices. The fact that their profits have plunged that low (98%! ) is huge.

 

[Peterg2]

1 sensationalist written report from the Verge does not constitute a company dying a death.

Precisely. And this whole thing has gone viral if you do a search, all from the Verge report. I looked at HTC's stock price in Taiwan and at the close it was flat for the day.

 

[0dev]

HTC One doubles production in May...



https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=jNb8V3lMDdDt4xu73IYFnA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.apktopsites.com/htc-to-r...ion-volume-in-the-coming-monthsthe-droid-guy/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=BoU9Xt93PYjqjah7DXz2-w&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=WxPcAAzfr5NAQJgB-hHguQ&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=g1FhTIaTEKzhQyKd7Y050w&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=qQG1ZMVLH5dS7W7JaK98dA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=yCCs2-O7GrhyeyFZPH4cYg&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=xgHN5EciYcystam-5THbHQ&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=GReUnjQlo9Pv6Z7q9ow9lw&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=UJ5s1mOissIPVBzhCTdqFA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=bvhNW3gNI8gbMtxb8e4B3A&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=ssBOqDExnSA1DAoMHov8UA&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=X_CiGLrVbLEzT_EKH53KJw&bvm=bv.46751780,d.ZGU

So much for a company that's dead...

Of course they're producing large amounts of the device they're hoping will save them, what's your point?

 

[jrswizzle]

Got a source for that? Because, erm, HTC's last quarterly report didn't look so great, nor does all the execs leaving, especially when they say stuff like this:





----------



See my previous post.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/htc-one-production-doubles-to-meet-strong-demand

http://news.yahoo.com/htc-says-one-production-double-meet-strong-demand-230024068.html

among others all saying the same thing.....

To base their current situation on last quarters' numbers when since they've released a brand new flagship that many call the best smartphone out there isn't all that factual......

Think about this as well - given the timing of the One's release and the Q1 2013 report release, those financials showed all the R&D and production costs of the One with 0 sales.....I would tend to think that's a bit skewed (as they were likely assuming an on-time release would give them a few weeks of sales to help offset).

If we get to the Q2 report and they're still doing terribly, it'll be time to panic. But to say the company is doomed when we haven't even see financials after the launch of their most ambitious and best smartphone ever is a bit premature......

And by all accounts (the ones linked above) HTC is having to double production meet the demand. Given where they were (are) financially, you'd think they likely put all their eggs in this basket and said "Here we go".....if they are needing to DOUBLE that to meet demand, I'd guess the One is selling pretty well......not GS4 or iPhone well, but well enough for HTC to stay alive and turn around.

As for the execs leaving and the comments.....did it ever occur to you that the failure of last year caused the head-haunchos at HTC to force some of these guys out.....and that, just maybe their egos were hurt and they're bitter?

 

[0dev]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/htc-one-production-doubles-to-meet-strong-demand

http://news.yahoo.com/htc-says-one-production-double-meet-strong-demand-230024068.html

among others all saying the same thing.....

To base their current situation on last quarters' numbers when since they've released a brand new flagship that many call the best smartphone out there isn't all that factual......

Think about this as well - given the timing of the One's release and the Q1 2013 report release, those financials showed all the R&D and production costs of the One with 0 sales.....I would tend to think that's a bit skewed (as they were likely assuming an on-time release would give them a few weeks of sales to help offset).

If we get to the Q2 report and they're still doing terribly, it'll be time to panic. But to say the company is doomed when we haven't even see financials after the launch of their most ambitious and best smartphone ever is a bit premature......

And by all accounts (the ones linked above) HTC is having to double production meet the demand. Given where they were (are) financially, you'd think they likely put all their eggs in this basket and said "Here we go".....if they are needing to DOUBLE that to meet demand, I'd guess the One is selling pretty well......not GS4 or iPhone well, but well enough for HTC to stay alive and turn around.

As for the execs leaving and the comments.....did it ever occur to you that the failure of last year caused the head-haunchos at HTC to force some of these guys out.....and that, just maybe their egos were hurt and they're bitter?

If the One was so great and there so much confidence in its success, why would all the executives be leaving the company? Is there any evidence they were fired as you claim?

And all that article says is that HTC expect all this demand, there's no evidence it actually exists. It's far more likely they're doing it out of desperation. They need to get these things out there or they will fail, and they know it.

 

[Peterg2]

----------



If the One was so great and there so much confidence in its success, why would all the executives be leaving the company? Is there any evidence they were fired as you claim?

And all that article says is that HTC expect all this demand, there's no evidence it actually exists...

Who said they are all leaving of their own volition? Who said all or some were not fired? Even Engadget asks the question about Hoornik and that is a valid one. However, this clearly does not play out in your world.