Exclusive: With new design chief at the helm, here's how HTC's products will change
Scott Croyle only just took over as the new design head at mobile device company HTC, but the former vice president of design already has big plans. — In the near future, the smartphone and tablet maker will …
Context & Ripple Effects
Scott Croyle's promotion from vice president of design to HTC's top design job (confirmed August 29, 2011) lands at a moment when the company's product strategy is under pressure from two directions. In July, an ITC judge ruled that HTC infringes two of ten Apple patents asserted in investigation no. 337-TA-710, and HTC said it was willing to negotiate with Apple to resolve the dispute.
The internal case for change is already visible in the lineup: the HTC Status, built around a dedicated Facebook button, was panned as a bad phone facing early demise despite its gimmick. VentureBeat's report that Croyle plans significant changes to HTC's smartphones and tablets signals a shift from feature-stacked differentiation toward design-led identity.
First-order effects
- HTC's near-term smartphone and tablet roadmap now passes through a single design authority in Croyle, meaning devices in development get reworked around his direction before launch.
- A more distinctive industrial design gives HTC additional separation from Apple's asserted patents while its ITC case and settlement talks remain open.
Second-order effects
- If HTC's refreshed designs land well, Apple faces an Android rival whose differentiation rests on look and feel rather than the spec-sheet and gimmick approach exemplified by the Status, raising the bar for what HTC will accept in any negotiated resolution.
- Carriers and buyers evaluating HTC's holiday-season lineup get a visibly different product family, forcing comparisons against HTC's own recent devices rather than incremental refreshes.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Android handset makers compete increasingly on industrial design and design leadership as a strategic hire, since commodity components leave appearance and usability as the remaining differentiators — and design chiefs become assets rivals bid for.
- Sustained design-led positioning also shapes how patent disputes between platform incumbents and OEMs play out, because distinctive original design both reduces infringement exposure and builds the brand equity needed to survive adverse rulings.
The trend: Smartphone competition is shifting from a spec-and-gimmick arms race toward design-led differentiation, with industrial-design leadership becoming a boardroom-level role at device makers.