Despite the fact that the HTC One was well received by customers and critics alike, HTC continues to struggle to turn its fortunes around. Sales dropped 83% in its second quarter (the failure of the HTC First likely did not help) from the previous year and it has lost a number of executives in recent months. HTC CEO Peter Chou has announced a number of organizational changes in a bid to turn the tides back in HTC’s favour. An internal email obtained by The Wall Street Journal describes the changes.
President of Global Sales Jason Mackenzie has been appointed President of the HTC America group on top of his current role. He already filled this role between 2010 and 2011.
The current president of HTC North America, Mike Woodward, will take up leadership of a new business unit called “Emerging Devices.” It will focus on “innovative new HTC products and global distribution strategies.”
In the email, Chou told employees that more was needed to turn HTC around: “I want to thank these two outstanding leaders for their contributions to the success of the HTC One so far,” he wrote in the email. “But as you know and would expect, we also need to do more. With the success of the One, we have many new opportunities both to expand current sales as well as to enter new distribution channels with new business models.”
The U.S. is no longer HTC’s largest market and it is more actively focused on Europe and Asia where it wants to further develop its brand and presence. At the same time, the reorganization suggests that HTC is not quite ready to close the book on North America.
Source : The Wall Street Journal