HTC Chief Innovation Officer leaves for 'personal reasons'
updated 02:35 pm EDT, Mon July 25, 2011
HTC innovation lead Horace Luke exits company
HTC in a statement Monday said its Chief Innovation Officer had quietly left the company. The executive left for "personal reasons," HTC said to BGR. The company's design VP Scott Croyle had taken his place.
It's unclear what the actual reasons might be. HTC suggested the terms were friendly and that Luke had "instilled a strong consumer design-focus" in the company. Companies often refer to "personal reasons" as codewords for firings, though that's not necessarily the case.
The loss could be a wound to HTC's design aesthetic. Much of its rapid rise in the past two years has been due in part to a shift away from its often plain and utilitarian Windows Mobile phones to more stylized and sometimes iconic Android phones. Many credit the high performance and distinctive "topographic" look of the Droid Incredible and Incredible S/2 with giving HTC a big break in North America.
Whether or not HTC phones change in the future isn't certain, though much of the current look and focus is as much from a design house HTC bought rather than solely from its highest executives.
