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With all eyes focused on HTC later today, it’s interesting to learn that it’s President of Emerging Devices, Mike Woodward has left the Taiwanese company to take up a senior role at Amazon. In a phone interview conducted by Bloomberg, Woodward says he left HTC within the last 45 days, and began working for Amazon earlier this month (October).
Who is Mike Woodward? According to his Linkedin page, he started off in US Naval Intelligence and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. After that he received MBA from the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University and later completing an executive strategic marketing management program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. After leaving the US Navy in 1997; Woodward worked for Motorola Mobility as Director of Marketing. 1999 saw him move on to PacketVideo where he was one of the first 30 employees, with the title of Vice President in charge of Carrier and OEM Sales. In 2002, Woodward took his first position at AT&T as Director, moving on to Executive Director before holding various Vice President positions. He began his final role at AT&T in January 2009, taking on the responsibility of being Vice President in charge of AT&T’s Device and Accessory Portfolio.
In July 2012 Mike Woodward began his sojourn at HTC by becoming the President of HTC America, charging him with the responsibility of managing the Taiwanese company’s North American interests. He held that role for about 2 years and 4 months before becoming the President of Emerging Devices in August 2013. This role made Woodward being responsible for developing peripheral devices such as what we are likely to see unveiled later today; the HTC One M8 EYE and Desire Eye.
While it’s always slightly worrying seeing the executive in charge of development leave a company just before a device is launched, it’s important to remember that this is the way of the business world. Often, after completing a project, the incumbents feel the need for a new challenge and move on to a different company. This can also be a good thing for the previous company involved as well, giving it the chance to bring in fresh energy and ideas. And there’s nothing worse that a tech company with stale ideas, am I right?
As for what Mike Woodward will be doing in his new, senior role at Amazon, it’s anybody’s guess since neither he nor Amazon has chosen to elaborate on the details. Looking at his past history though, you would think that it will be something to do with developing new devices. One thing to note is that its pretty obvious that by hiring Woodward, Amazon aren’t giving up on handheld or wearable devices anytime soon. Let us know your thoughts at our Google Plus page.