Htc Corp in 2009
9-709-466
REV: DECEMBER 8, 2009
DAVID B. YOFFIE RENEE KIM
HTC Corp. in 2009
Peter Chou, HTC Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer, returned to Taiwan with a sense of exhilaration and pride from Mobile World Congress 2009, the world’s leading exhibition for mobile phones. HTC generated a buzz for revealing two new handsets, as well as surprising the world with the announcement of HTC Magic, the second phone that ran on Google’s new mobile platform, Android. As Chou claimed, “We got lots of press exposure, high visibility, and the response was very positive. It was the best show we had ever attended.”1 Indeed, Chou felt that HTC was gaining more respect as a leading manufacturer of mobile phones. Twelve years ago, the company started out as a relatively obscure Taiwanese firm that made personal digital assistants (PDAs) for other companies. HTC then transitioned into the fast growing smartphone category - high-end mobile phones that could do everything from e-mail to Internet surfing to playing digital video. Dedication to innovation and perseverance had elevated HTC into the world’s leading manufacturer of smartphones that ran Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. Revenue had surged to $4.5 billion with sales in more than 70 countries. Historically, HTC had stayed in the shadows by selling high quality, unbranded phones to cellular phone manufacturers and wireless network operators. Then in 2006, HTC made the risky decision to start branding phones under its own label, a path that many Taiwanese manufacturers had tried, but failed. So far, the new strategy seemed to pay off. However, the HTC brand name still had a long way to go. Chou now wondered—”What should we do to become a powerful, global brand like Nokia or Samsung Electronics?” HTC had also benefited enormously from its long, close relationship with Microsoft. However, the landscape for phone software was changing. Apple, Research In Motion (RIM), Palm, Nokia, and Google were flooding the market
REV: DECEMBER 8, 2009
DAVID B. YOFFIE RENEE KIM
HTC Corp. in 2009
Peter Chou, HTC Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer, returned to Taiwan with a sense of exhilaration and pride from Mobile World Congress 2009, the world’s leading exhibition for mobile phones. HTC generated a buzz for revealing two new handsets, as well as surprising the world with the announcement of HTC Magic, the second phone that ran on Google’s new mobile platform, Android. As Chou claimed, “We got lots of press exposure, high visibility, and the response was very positive. It was the best show we had ever attended.”1 Indeed, Chou felt that HTC was gaining more respect as a leading manufacturer of mobile phones. Twelve years ago, the company started out as a relatively obscure Taiwanese firm that made personal digital assistants (PDAs) for other companies. HTC then transitioned into the fast growing smartphone category - high-end mobile phones that could do everything from e-mail to Internet surfing to playing digital video. Dedication to innovation and perseverance had elevated HTC into the world’s leading manufacturer of smartphones that ran Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. Revenue had surged to $4.5 billion with sales in more than 70 countries. Historically, HTC had stayed in the shadows by selling high quality, unbranded phones to cellular phone manufacturers and wireless network operators. Then in 2006, HTC made the risky decision to start branding phones under its own label, a path that many Taiwanese manufacturers had tried, but failed. So far, the new strategy seemed to pay off. However, the HTC brand name still had a long way to go. Chou now wondered—”What should we do to become a powerful, global brand like Nokia or Samsung Electronics?” HTC had also benefited enormously from its long, close relationship with Microsoft. However, the landscape for phone software was changing. Apple, Research In Motion (RIM), Palm, Nokia, and Google were flooding the market