Can smartphone visionary engineer HTC's second coming?

Reuters : Taipei, Wed Aug 21 2013, 11:14 hrs

Now in his tenth year as CEO of HTC Corp, Peter Chou is lauded as the architect of the Taiwanese firm's award-winning smartphones. But as the company's fortunes have dived, some insiders say he's now an obstacle to any revival.

Rocked by internal feuding and executive exits, and positioned at the high-end of a smartphone market that is close to saturation, HTC has seen its market share slump to below 5 per cent from around a quarter five years ago; its stock price is at 8-year lows, and it has warned it could make a first operating loss this quarter.

Reuters interviewed a dozen former and current HTC executives who said Chou's abrasive management style and weak strategic vision play their part in the company's decline, which has coincided with the success of Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy phones.

Chou has said publicly he has no intention to stand down, and executives - none of whom wanted to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue - said HTC has no clear internal successor. "Part of the weakness is there is no obvious successor, and that's not been good for morale," one said.

Chou declined to be interviewed for this article, but in response to Reuters queries, the company said: "HTC's board and broad employee base remain committed to Peter Chou's leadership. The (flagship) HTC One product family - which has been met with accolades by media and consumers alike - was a result of Peter's vision and leadership, and speaks for itself."

OBSESSIVE EYE

Born in Myanmar but educated as an electrical engineer in Taiwan, Chou joined HTC from Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) in 1997. Colleagues describe him as a perfectionist with an obsessive eye for materials and hardware design. Staff would deliver trays of prototype phones for him to inspect and pore over, spinning them to check for balance and running his fingers across the bevelled edges and joints. Phones would pile up on his desk, sometimes spilling onto the floor.

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