The person behind HTC's rise to success with sleek design and user functionality announced he was leaving the Chinese company to pursue his own personal dreams. Many viewed Scott Croyle as an instrumental piece of the HTC puzzle in its recent development of accessible and unique smartphones that have taken the world by storm.
But he said he was leaving the company - which had acquired his One & Co studio in 2008 - to work on his own projects outside the large corporations' boardrooms.
HTC also confirmed to media that Croyle was leaving and described the decision as "a long-term transition" as the company said he would remain on for the coming months as a consultant to see through recent projects in the works.
The company plans to reorganize its San Francisco office and has tapped Drew Bamford as Croyle successor, who has been a part of the HTC family for a number of years.
"Drew Bamford is an experienced and talented leader at HTC with solid track records in leading and building our user experience team," said HTC in statement. "Effective immediately, in addition to his current duties in product development and user experience, Drew will lead HTC Creative Labs and focus on innovative new products and user experience strategies."
Many industry experts have already begun to pile on the frustration over Croyle's departure. Many of those same people believe that Croyle was instrumental in the HTC One M8 released earlier this year to massive praise. A number of blogs and tech sites dubbed it the best smartphone currently on the market.
But now, HTC will be forced to rely on CEO Peter Chou, who has repeatedly said he wants to be more involved in the product design and development process for the company, which could have precipitated Croyle's departure, although neither Croyle nor HTC has said anything on the matter, or if there was an internal power struggle.
Still, despite the industry praise for the HTC One, sales of the smartphone have tailed off and have been in decline for a while now and the company is looking to make a new start, even without its top designer.
Croyle's departure is effective immediately and throws the company into a whirlwind of rumors and concerns over whether it can fully tackle the American market with its current make-up and strategy. It will be an interesting period of transition for the company and it will leave a void in the design process for the immediate future.
