In the span of a week some of the brightest, smartest and most innovative minds behind today's advancing technologies in mobile, smartphones, computing and search have taken leave to jump to new employers or move out on their own.
As Tech Times reported last week HTC hired on the ex-marketing chief at Samsung who managed to blast the Galaxy smartphone into a whole new galaxy of eliteness, nearly on par with Apple's iconic iPhone. HTC guru Scott Croyle is downgrading his role to consultant to pursue personal projects. At the same time HTC's Senior VP of Design, Ford Davidson, is leaving for his own projects. Meanwhile Apple has finally found a new VP to head up its retail and storefront business.
The game of musical chairs among the top titans reflects each one is feeling greater pressure than ever to develop the next greatest device, app, functionality, feature and grab consumers' interest in what they're selling.
Former Samsung guru Paul Golden is going to serve as an adviser for HTC Chairman Cher Wang who is running HTC's marketing strategy at this point. HTC just recently launched its One M8 handset and so far it's not gotten the market traction, and hype, HTC likely expected. With Golden on board it's a sure bet that won't be the scenario on the next smartphone launch.
Golden served as Samsung's CMO for four years and his LinkedIn resume notes sales doubled from $5 billion to $10 billion and that he drove a four-fold increase in market share for the Galaxy brand. His accomplishments also include achieving a 50 percent increase in Samsung consumer brand preference and an over 50 percent increase in unaided brand awareness.
But while HTC hires on a visionary it's also losing two. Scott Croyle is leaving his role at chief of industrial design and user experience team to go off on his own projects. Published reports cite Croyle was 'the one' behind HTC One and several acclaimed devices. But he's not completely out the door as he's staying on as a consultant during the transition period. The rumor is that Drew Bamford, who now heads up HTC's Sense UI, will be the creative lead for new products.
HTC Senior Vice President of Design. Ford Davidson. announced Friday that he's leaving as well but will be serving in a advisor role. Davidson moved into HTC when HTC acquired his company Dashwire.
More big news came Friday when Vic Gundotra, the man behind Google+, announced he is leaving after eight years with the search titan. He is cited as the mastermind behind the Google 'circle' strategy.
Also on Friday news came that Angela Ahrendt, a fashion executive, will be joining Apple next week and filling the role of senior VP of retail and online stores, a job that has been vacant for some time. Ahrendt comes from British fashion house Burberry. The 53-year-old former fashion executive was Burberry CEO since July 2006 and worked at other top fashion companies such as Donna Karan International, Henri Bedel and Liz Claiborne.
Apple CEO has reportedly described her as "wicked smart," in an employee to employees.
"I have wanted one person to lead both of these teams for some time because I believe it will better serve our customers, but I had never met anyone whom I felt confident could lead both until I met Angela. We met for the first time last January, and I knew in that meeting that I wanted her to join Apple," Cook writes in the email.
