Whether it’s due to stagnant visions on smartphone design or something as simple as the inevitable motions of life, for one reason or another HTC has yet again lost their lead product designer. Jonah Becker announced his departure from the company today.
Becker was part of One & Co., a design firm that was acquired by HTC about 6 years ago. His business partner Scott Croyle had been the vice president of industrial design since the deal was made back in 2008, and Becker found himself promoted to that position once Croyle vacated it.
So what’s next? HTC has already decided to slot creative director Daniel Hundt into the role and focus on product design for mobile devices. Meanwhile, the lone remaining figurehead from One & Co. — Claude Zellweger — will continue in the role he has played as lead designer for HTC’s connected devices (such as the HTC RE Camera, Vive and Grip).
We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago. We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office.
Many will likely jump to conclusions and point to the underwhelming response of the HTC One M9 as the driving force behind this move, but it’s never wise to speculate. It’s important to remember that HTC is going through a very significant shift from the top down, with Cher Wang — co-founder to the Taiwanese company — having been announced as Peter Chou’s successor just a week ago. We imagine many more changes in executive management are on tap, and we’d do well not to overreact.
[via Engadget]
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