Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday announced Benjamin Ho (何永生) would replace John Wang (王景弘) as chief marketing officer in January.
The key personnel change comes as the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand has recently ended a patent fight with Apple Inc, but still faces intensified competition from Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.
HTC’s stock price rose 3.02 percent to close at NT$256 in Taipei trading, after local media reported earlier in the day that Ho would leave Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) to join HTC.
So far this year, the stock has plunged 48.49 percent, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
At HTC, Ho, a Singaporean, will be responsible for worldwide marketing and branding, and his first assignment will be to lead a project, dubbed “Marketing 2.0,” to refocus the company’s efforts around marketing and mass-market brand outreach, while Jason Mackenzie, currently president of global sales and marketing, will focus on global sales strategy, the company said.
On Oct. 26, HTC told an investors’ conference that it planned to continue marketing investment in a bid to increase its brand awareness in developed and emerging countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, after revenue declined for a second consecutive quarter to NT$70.2 billion (US$2.41 billion) in the third quarter, which was the lowest in 11 quarters.
“We welcome Benjamin to HTC and look forward to integrating the global marketing capabilities he brings to the company,” HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明) said in a statement.
Ho is currently vice president of business strategy and marketing at Far EasTone, the statement said.
He previously served as vice president and chief marketing officer at Motorola Asia Pacific Ltd for eight years, as well as a working as a director at BBDO Greater China, Dentsu and Young and Rubicam International, the statement said.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
Intel Corp chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said that a formal separation of the company’s factory and product development divisions is an open question that would be decided by the chipmaker’s next leader. Zinsner, who is serving as interim co-CEO following this month’s ouster of Pat Gelsinger, made the remarks on Thursday at the Barclays technology conference in San Francisco alongside co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Intel’s struggles to keep pace with rivals — along with its deteriorating financial condition — have spurred speculation that the next CEO would make dramatic changes. That has included talk of a split of the company’s manufacturing
HOUSING: The uptick to 2.24 percent came despite the central bank leaving its policy unchanged for two quarters and raising lenders’ required reserve ratios Mortgage interest rates last quarter spiked to a 15-year high of 2.23 percent despite a decline in loan applications, as local lenders slowed real-estate lending to support the central bank’s credit controls, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said yesterday. “The data suggests that buying a home is growing increasingly difficult,” the brokers said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (聯徵中心). The uptick in mortgage burdens came even though the central bank left its policy rates unchanged in the past two quarters and hiked the lenders’ required reserve ratios to drain money from the market, head researcher Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said. Further, the
In a patch of South America rich in lithium, used to make batteries for electric cars and other tech, Bolivia is lagging its neighbors in the race to mine the key metal. An area called the “lithium triangle” which spills over the borders of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina is home to 60 percent of the world’s lithium reserves, according to the US Geological Survey. Bolivia claims to have Earth’s largest deposit of the metal, used to make rechargeable batteries for smartphones, laptops and other devices besides e-vehicles. However, Bolivia has undertaken only four pilot projects and is running just one
RSS