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HTC to expand its US reach in 2014 by launching a greater variety of phones
HTC seems to understand that it needs to do something to get its products into more hands. That's the sentiment that exec Jason MacKenzie expressed to us today after the company's Desire press event. Said MacKenzie, "You can expect to see more devices in the US that reach out to more market segments." Among these new devices, he tells us, is the new Desire 816 announced at today's show. Such a move shows that while the HTC One was one of our favorite devices of the year, it simply wasn't enough to make a significant enough impact in market share; by offering phones at a variety of price points, HTC believes that more people will take notice of its products as they hang out on store shelves. And if the company can keep up its ability to make tempting handsets with good build quality and low enough prices to compete, it likely will have a much larger impact in the US than anything Robert Downey Jr. can have.
Layoffs abound at HTC America as 20 percent of employees are let go
HTC America ended its Friday evening on the somber revelation that 20 percent of its workforce would be terminated. In all, roughly 30 employees and contractors were let go from the 150-member division, which stands as the latest sign of the company's financial struggles. A representative acknowledged the layoffs in a prepared statement, calling it "... a decisive action by HTC Corp (US) to streamline and optimize our organization and improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth." The news was first announced by The Verge, which obtained a letter from recently appointed division president Jason Mackenzie, who promised to "treat the impacted employees with the respect they deserved and provide them with resources to help bridge them to their next opportunity." We're still looking forward to bigger things ahead from HTC, but in the meantime, you'll find the company's full statement after the break.
HTC launches 'Emerging Devices' arm, reorganizes US operations
HTC's attempts to dig itself out of its financial quagmire has seen some high-profile departures hogging the headline space beside its high profile devices. The latest boardroom shuffle concentrates on the company's American operations, which will now be headed up by former global sales head Jason Mackenzie (above right, playing rock-paper-scissors with Brad). At the same time, the company is establishing a new "Emerging Devices" unit, designed to focus on new products and "global distribution strategies," whatever that means.
The Engadget Interview: HTC President of Global Sales Jason MacKenzie
Shortly after Facebook's big reveal this morning, we caught up with HTC President of Global Sales Jason McKenzie and spent a few minutes with him discussing the First. As expected, he was pretty excited about this collaboration between his company, Facebook and AT&T. Jason revealed to us that HTC's strategy involves ultimately catering the First to hardcore (or at least frequent) users of the social network, whereas a device like the One will be more appealing to those who aren't interested in staying constantly connected. Interestingly, HTC seems to have put Facebook in the driver's seat here, as the First will not only come pre-loaded with Facebook Home (and its firmware optimizations), but no sign of Sense anywhere. It's certainly a departure from HTC's usual branding efforts, so it'll be intriguing to see exactly how well the device sells on AT&T. We have our full interview with Jason below, so take a few minutes to get the First scoop.
