Late last week Microsoft announced the imminent departure of current CEO Steve Ballmer within the next year or once a successor has been named, prompting unsuspecting tech junkies and Microsoft loyalists alike to bid Ballmer a fond adieu. However, a report today suggests that perhaps the board over in Redwood, WA may have forced Ballmer out a tad prematurely than he would have liked. While such is the nature of the business (sorry, Steve), I have to wonder when HTC is going to wake up and give CEO Peter Chou a cardboard box to pack up this things.
With its flagship HTC One smartphone finally planting its roots in U.S. soil, it simply seems too little too late. Peter Chou is responsible for gaffes in the company’s recent memory that could’ve brought it on the verge of complete obscurity, or even worse.
To be clear, I have no personal vendetta against Chou or his line of gadgets and gizmos. But HTC has too much potential to let some drunken skipper steer it into an iceberg.
According to the Huffington Post today, “Microsoft’s $900 million Surface RT disaster may have been one of the causes of Ballmer’s seemingly sudden departure. In July, Microsoft lost $900 million because of its enormous inventory of unsold Surface RT tablets, causing stock prices to tumble 5 percent.”
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Can you believe that? Steve Ballmer–who was instrumental in Microsoft’s software-heavy focus relating to the likes of the acquisition of Skype, the conception of Microsoft’s cloud-based SkyDrive service, and the compatibility of Microsoft’s Windows Phone mobile OS with other applications–was kicked out of Microsoft for stocking a few extra million Surface RT tablets.
Ballmer’s time may have been running dry anyway, though, as is the case with many aging authoritative figure like a coach, president, or mafia chieftain; someone who has simply lost focus on his day and age because he’s past his prime. He jumped too late onto burgeoning trends and Microsoft fell slightly by the wayside.
Which is why I’m willing to give Ballmer the benefit of the doubt. He’s been at this a while and has done some great things for Microsoft and made its shareholders a pretty penny, enough in my book to waive the Surface fiasco and let him bow out gracefully.
But Chou is at the helm of a company on the cutting edge. The HTC One is considered a premiere handset, universally loved no matter the user’s brand preference or syncable devices. And it doesn’t matter one bit.
Back in May five leading executives left the company citing undisclosed reasons for their sudden departure, though tweeting about their employer’s disregard for its employees’ happiness.
During that same timeframe, when HTC sold some 5 million One smartphones outside of the U.S., Samsung had already sold 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones in a shorter period of time–coincidentally during a period when HTC reported a dismal quarterly earnings of roughly $2.8 million in net profit (maybe put that ^^ part here to smooth out sentence?). Prior to that, the HTC One release had been pushed back due to the company no longer being a tier one customer for its component manufacturers.
So what vision does Peter Chou have for his company? For one, he wants Robert Downey Jr. to be the face of it, signing the Academy Award nominated actor to a two-year global marketing campaign worth $12 million complete with TV commercials that are anything but clever.
And?
“My leadership team continues to focus on execution,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. “We are seeing expected results as we fill the channels and meet demand for the new HTC One. As we broaden our focus to include a new member of the HTC One family, the recently announced One mini, we are looking forward to delivering great products and results in 2H.”
Two smartphones and an ad campaign.
Apple is gearing up for two smartphones, a mobile operating system, and two new tablets. Samsung puts out a product seemingly daily, but has plans for a smartphone/tablet hybrid and a smart watch.
From a monetary standpoint Chou appears to be on the right track but it’s not enough. According to its Q2 2013 earnings report, HTC’s “Operating margin is expected to be in the range of 0% to -8%.” Apple’s operating margin is sitting pretty at 29.46%.
So how does a company like HTC move forward?
Either Chou needs to work on his long-term plan for the Taiwanese electronics conglomerate or he needs to go. A vision similar to that of LG’s would be a fine start. The company recently rebranded its flagship smartphone and announced a brand new electronics line up thought to include a tablet, smart watch, and Google Glass-like eyewear. Rather than pouring money into marketing ploys and PR appointments, Chou and HTC need to start recognizing the trend of current technology and rather than buck the trend, embrace it and build upon it ŕ la Steve Jobs. Jobs was fully aware of the technical limits of computing as a youngster but identified a trend in personal computing that launched the innovative revolution in the glory of which we’re all still basking. Jobs continued to reinvent himself and outline new trends, an aspect that propelled his company and its products to the very top.
Whether Chou can adapt or die remains to be seen. His company certainly has the tools but it lacks the vision and flexibility to grasp the future of consumer technology. If he can manage to look beyond the HTC One and HTC One Mini, Chou and HTC could be an innovative force to be reckoned with.
