[Galaxy S 4 General] schrickm5:
So you think a company's health, financial condition, and position in the market have nothing to do with their products? HTC is in dire financial straits and it has nothing to do with me. And companies that aren't making money can't reinvest in R&D, properly fund marketing, and provide competitive levels of support. Ask a loyal Saab owner where they are getting their car repaired, what its resale value is, and how happy they are with their original purchase decision. A company's health and business outlook has everything to do with their products and customer support. LG and Sony are distributed multi-billion dollar companies and can fund turn-arounds in their mobile divisions. Motorola's owned by Google. HTC?

This is a good example of what happens when a company isn't making enough profit to support its operations.

February 13, 2013 - This week there’s a letter being sent to the heads at HTC from what reports claim is an anonymous defector from the company’s R&D department, this letter claiming that “more than a thousand” engineers have been asked to work 12 hour days without overtime on a regular basis. This system has been claimed by the anonymous letter-writer to have been called a “Responsibility System” and is having workers put in “1000 hours” of overtime work without overtime pay. While the letter has not yet been entirely authenticated beyond what Taiwanese publication MyDrivers claim, such claims will likely prompt a response from HTC rather rapidly.

According to MyDrivers, they’ve got word that “more than 5,000 internal engineers” are part of the Research and Development team that may be affected by this so-called “Responsibility System”. While the letter in question does appear to have been written and presented by a single disgruntled employee, it’s been claimed that “thousands” of engineers have been included in this demand for additional hours without overtime pay.

In January of this year it would appear that HTC Chairman Cher Wang was prompted to respond to allegations of “sweatshop” conditions, saying (translated): “every place has room to improve, but HTC’s workplace is based in an appreciation of each person at all times, with that appreciation applying to everyone, the company acting in that appreciation, not just in efforts to keep themselves prepared.” Note that that’s a rather rough translation, the original to be found at Sina Technological Age.

This newest incident appears to have once again created an environment in which the chairman is having to defend the company, saying this time that HTC has “always complied with the Labor Standards Act, except weekends and statutory holidays,” continuing on with notes that HTC “also encourages employees to make good use of annual leave and a good work-life balance.” The chairman spoke specifically about overtime, saying that “employees can still apply, but [overtime] is subject to the approval of the department head.”

As Unwired View‘s Staska notes,

there was a bit of a surprising gap in costs for R&D between the third and fourth quarter of 2011, with HTC cutting costs by a whopping 60%.

This announcement was included in Q4 earnings reports

without word of any equivalent number of layoffs

. Could it be that the costs were simply cut by having workers stay longer each night without equivalent overtime pay?​

http://www.slashgear.com/anonymous-...ibility-system-with-unpaid-overtime-08268630/[/QUOTE]

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Saab owners (loyal ones as you mentioned above) here in Sweden anyway have no worries regarding spares or repairs, these are gauranteed by the state, as it owns the spare parts business here, I can see a risk in the transfer of knowledge for skilled technicians at repair workshops though. Resale value has definitely been hit, in relation to a similair age and model Volvo. So, yes the seconhand value has dipped for Saab and owners are not happy with the resale value, but hey the funny thing about loyalty and enthusiasts is that we are somewhat blinded by this strange affinity between man and machine.

I agree a company's financial state is linked to its products, but the fickleness of the public when purchasing is what it is, be they technophiles or technophobes.

....but respectfully I think you are missing the point Barry, myself and a whole section of One owners did not hesitate at the store prior to purchasing and consider HTC's managerial skills or its companies future concerns regarding its investments in R&D and Marketing.

And I am pretty sure most S4 owners didn't think - "heck what a financially stable and great Balance Sheet Samsung has, good R&D/Turnover KPI.....lets buy". Most likely future customers looked at the hardware specs (XDA'ers).... the general populace proabably at the looks and features.

Regarding the treatment of engineers - there would be a whole boat load of trouble here with the Unions/Courts if that happened, Perhaps its also a reflection on Taiwanese politics and labour laws not being tight enough and employers being able to get away with this type of nonsense. Anyway as it is HTC need to sort that sh!t out!

Word.