Hiring spree
Smartphone-maker HTC has announced the appointment of a new executive director for UK and Ireland, following the promotion of Jon French to an EMEA role.
The new UK boss is Phil Robertson, who used to be director of devices at Everything Everywhere - the combination of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK. Before they merged he was head of terminals (handsets) and operations for T-Mobile.
"I've known Phil for a number of years and am absolutely thrilled he is now joining our HTC team," said French. "HTC has seen tremendous growth over the past couple of years by delivering innovative and intuitive products built with consumers in mind. Phil's shrewd negotiating skills and experience in driving product strategy make him the top man for the job of further establishing HTC as the leading smartphone brand in the UK and Ireland."
Robertson's appointment comes hot on the heels of the opening of HTC's new EMEA headquarters in the former O2 building in Slough. This was a sufficiently big deal that HTC CEO Peter Chou flew in especially, and HTC was keep to stress that the building is currently only half full, but won't be for long.
We went to the grand opening and chatted to a few HTC people, most of whom had only joined in recent months. There's definitely a buzz about the company right now, with new hires originating from a diverse range of companies from app start-ups to Sony. All of them seem to be working 24/7, but are happy to do so - or so they assured this hack.
We also learnt that HTC Sense is absolutely central to its strategy. HTC is acutely aware of the challenges involved in differentiation within the Android ecosystem, and there's only so much to can achieve with hardware. A unique user experience, including special services and apps is vital, and this is where a lot of HTC investment is being directed.
In addition it was made clear to us that HTC remains fully committed to Windows Phone 7, despite the lack of new handsets since the first batch. While we would expect then to say that to a journalist, part of the rationale given is that it's important to have another platform, if only to keep Google honest, which makes sense - no pun intended.
