INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Several months back, we invited HTC cofounder and CEO Cher Wang to appear on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt
Sometimes, however, life happens
Two weeks ago, the company announced that Wang would be stepping down from the role, which would immediately be filled by longtime telecom
Thankfully, the former Orange exec also agreed to appear on stage at this week event.
Maitres took the stage immediately following a one on
one with OnePlus cofounder, Carl Pei
The contrast of the two companies couldn''t be more stark
In six short years of existence, OnePlus has managed to buck a number of industry trends with a controlled growth that flies in the face of
wider industry smartphone trends.
HTC, meanwhile, has been struggling for years
In Q2, the Taiwanese hardware maker posted its fifth consecutive quarterly loss
Last July, it laid off around a quarter of its staff
It been a precipitous fall
In 2011, the company comprised around 11 percent of global smartphone sales, per analyst figures
Now its figures are routinely classified among the &Others& in those reports.
Speaking to Maitres at an event such as this offers a rare
opportunity for insight from a newly minted exec who has spent years watching his new company from the outside
As such, he addressed HTC struggles with a refreshing candidness.
HTC has stopped innovating in the hardware of the smartphone,& he told the
&And people like Apple, like Samsung and, most recently, Huawei, have done an incredible job investing in their hardware
We didn''t, because we have been investing in innovation on virtual reality
When I was young, somebody told me, ‘to be be right at the wrong time is to be wrong and to be wrong at the right time is right.& I think
we&ve been right at the wrong time and now we have to catch up
It is very difficult to anticipate the time
HTC made a mistake in terms of timing
It is a difficult mistake and we are paying for that, but we still have so many assets in terms of innovation, team and balance sheets that
I feel we are recovering from the timing mistake.
lsquo;Timing,& here, is primarily a reference to the company decision to move much of its
R-D money into XR (primarily VR through its Vive wing)
Maitres said he anticipates that HTC XR offerings will overtake the mobile side in about five years.
We&ll do our best to make it shorter,
but customer adoption is key,& he explained
&How people are adopting your technology
And we all know know it is absolutely critical
And the end of the day, we have human beings in front of us, and they&re dealing with something total new and totally unusual, which is
virtual.
On the mobile side, Maitres sees 5G as the primary bottleneck to growth
Contrary to suggestions that the company best play is in developing nations, he says HTC play going forward will be more premium handset
focused on &countries with higher GDP.
The competition is changing,& he says
&We&re all having a situation where worldwide marketshare is going down and the customer is disappointed in not being to have the latest
How to give our customers the ability to come back to what they wish, in terms of best in class hardware and photography that HTC to will to
solve in the next few months.
While figures will largely be dependent on decisions Brough to HTC board, Maitres maintains optimistic
projections when it comes to returning the company profitability.
I truly believe that it is going to depend on the way carriers deploy 5G,&
&And you know that 2020 will bee the starting point for 5G
Usually it takes two years to deploy a network
So 2023 will have significant coverage
That why I believe that 2025, probably even earlier will be the turning point
We are dependent on carrier deployment speed.
