HTC CEO Peter Chou steps down, say hello to Cher Wang
Remember back at HTC’s Mobile World Congress event where they unveiled the HTC One M9? Peter Chou, the company’s rock star CEO, shared a fair bit of stage time with a woman named Cher Wang, who was then known as the Chairperson for HTC’s board of directors and the co-founder of the company. She helped Chou unveil the HTC One M9 with a degree of glee that only a truly happy woman was capable of showing.
And now we know why she was so happy: she’s been named the new CEO of HTC. HTC announced the news this morning as they looked to publicize some long-awaited corporate restructuring.
Before assuming this is some sort of backlash for Chou in the wake of what many of you consider a lackluster follow-up to one of 2014’s best phones, HTC reveals they’ve been working toward this transition for at least a couple of years. Wang had already been heavily involved in day-to-day management of HTC’s business, while Chou had taken a more hands-on approach with new product development.
That would explain HTC’s recent evolution from being just a smartphone company to being a technology company. They made the first move with the HTC Re Camera last year, and looked to capitalize on that with the launches of the HTC Re Vive VR headset and the Under Armour-powered HTC Re Grip fitness band a short couple of weeks ago.
As such, Peter Chou isn’t going anywhere — he’s still with HTC in a big way. He is heading up the future development labs for the company, and will continue to be the driving influence behind the phones, tablets and accessories HTC makes going forward.
As for Cher Wang, she will continue doing what she’s always done — be very good at business. Forbes ranked her as the 54th most powerful woman in the world recently, and she has been widely recognized as being one of the most influential women in tech. Her roles in creating and growing VIA Technologies and HTC a couple of decades ago should quell any fears (within HTC or otherwise) that she doesn’t know what she’s doing.