HTC 2008 Annual Report Download - page 10

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A. Corporate Philosophy
From the very beginning, HTC has maintained a clear and
straightforward approach to its business. The company
does not copy or imitate the work of others and fosters a
corporate culture averse to being a follower. Rather,
corporate energies and time are invested in creating
original innovation able to infuse further value into HTC
products.
Since the launch of our proprietary HTC brand, we have
dedicated our efforts to making the HTC brand truly world-
class. Product design work now more than ever considers
the habits and preferences of users in our major markets,
and the entire organization is increasingly attuned to user
and customer needs. The company is geared toward
meeting challenges head on, resisting complacency and
routine, and constantly challenging itself to do better. We
look forward to leveraging the HTC brand to bring HTC's
energy and innovation to every corner of the world.
B. Company History
HTC has undergone three comprehensive realignments
since it was founded.
>Professional PDA Designer, Dedicated to
Innovative R&D
The firm began operations in 1997 with authorization
to develop products using Windows®CE, the newly-
launched Microsoft®operating system designed
specifically for consumer electronic products. HT
Cho (then-President and now Board Director) and
Peter Chou (then-Vice President and now CEO &
President), organized an HTC R&D team to develop
and launch the world's first handheld PDA. This
positive first step forward solidified HTC's reputation
and convinced Microsoft to make HTC a product
creation partner. The experience also created the
solid foundation on which the HTC-Microsoft
partnership continues to grow and flourish.
The Compaq iPAQ, designed and manufactured by
HTC for the Compaq Computer Corporation, was a
huge market success when it was launched in 2000.
The iPAQ went on to earn an entry in the 2000. The
turn of the millennia marked HTC's emergence as a
recognized up-and-coming player in the global PDA
market.
>Leader of the Pack in Converged Devices
HTC's first major realignment came in 1999, when a
decision was made to take the company rapidly into
the arena of telecommunications. Current HTC CEO
& President Peter Chou saw the increasingly
important role that mobile telecommunications
products would play in daily life and predicted
accurately that the GSM standard would spread from
Europe to dominate the U.S. and Japanese markets
as well. Chou subsequently arranged visits to
Europe's largest telecommunications operators to
discuss an innovative new approach for the industry-
the development of customized devices for the
wireless communications market.
In 2002, HTC broke new ground for the industry by
launching two new mobile wireless devices, the O2
XDA and Orange SPV, in partnership, respectively,
with O2 (UK) and Orange (France). The products,
designed around Microsoft's latest operating system,
helped telecommunications service providers boost
average revenue per user (ARPU) rates and earned
worldwide attention.
By integrating Internet, entertainment, video and
personal data assistant functions onto a handheld
device offering a large, easy-to-read and high
resolution display panel, HTC ushered in a new era
in the history of converged devices. Cell phones
would no longer be simple devices used to send and
receive voice and text communications; they now
offered information and entertainment on the move -
a platform over which to plug into the world. It was at
this stage that HTC began actively working with
customers to develop test devices to help better
understand the full range of customer
telecommunication service needs. Results were fed
into the development of customized converged
devices, which formed the vanguard of HTC's
strategic move into the global telecommunications
market and its calculated creation of a supporting
sales and service network.
>Strategic Rollout of the Global HTC Brand
HTC Touch 'Touches Off' Worldwide Demand for
Touch Screen Functionality
Quarterly sales of HTC branded products in Europe
have risen steadily since the HTC brand was
launched in that market in June 2007. In May of
2008, after acquiring a controlling stake in regional
smartphone distributor Dopod International, HTC
announced the strategic launch of its proprietary
brand worldwide. The company then founded a new
subsidiary, HTC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., to handle HTC
marketing and sales in the Asia-Pacific region and
further bolster global marketing capabilities. The
global launch in London of HTC Touch sparked a
new wave of excitement and interest worldwide in
smartphone products and foretold the release of
other new consumer-oriented smartphone models.
The quick success of HTC Touch hinted at the strong
potential for long-term success of the brand in the
global market for wireless telecommunication
products.
2OO 8 HTC AN N UAL REPO RT II. CO MPAN Y PRO FILE