[One (M9) General] Snah001:
HTC Director Mrs. Cher Wang apologises to the shareholders for the poor performance of the company the last few months.

The M9 was poorly accepted by the market and had not enough desired changes over the M8 (as we all know now next to the performance and camera issues).

Biggest news is she promised to come in october this year with a "Hero" product being a High-End Smartphone. She didn't release any more details about that.

Also she promised that next year probably "M10" will be a significant improvement in innovation and design and that HTC will extend its portofolio in the middle of the product range.

So HTC got finally the message and the mistakes made with the M9 are recognised but sadly they can't do anything about that anymore.

The promises for autumn this year and next year flagship are good to hear.

Here is the article (thanks to the Tapei Times) where this news is extracted from:

HTC chair apologizes to shareholders

‘LET PEOPLE DOWN’:Cher Wang’s apology came on the back of the company’s share price falling to a 12-year low of NT$98, far from an April 1, 2011, high of NT$1,300

HTC chairwoman and chief executive officer Cher Wang, fourth left, yesterday bows at a general shareholders’ meeting in Taipei as she apologizes to investors for the company’s disappointing performance over the past few months.

HTC chairwoman and chief executive officer Cher Wang yesterday apologized to shareholders for the company’s disappointing performance over the past few months.

Wang said HTC’s performance was mainly due to its poor operational efficiency and overly conservative marketing strategy amid fierce competition in the global market.

“HTC’s recent performance has let people down,” Wang said at the company’s annual general meeting.

Wang’s apology came a day after HTC’s stock price dropped below NT$100 to a 12-year low of NT$98. Shares stood as high as NT$1,300 on April 1, 2011.

This year’s HTC flagship One M9 smartphone, which was launched in April, was criticized for lacking differentiation from its previous model, the One M8. The smartphone also encountered thermal issues causing shipment delays after its sales launch.

In an effort to improve the company’s smartphone segment, HTC’s core business, Wang said the company plans to launch a “hero product” in October, and make significant improvements in innovation and design for the next flagship model next year.

The company is also planning to improve its product mix strategy for smartphones, she added.

Wang said HTC would reduce its production costs by improving production efficiency as well as optimizing its components supply chain, adding that it would also outsource some orders to increase operational flexibility.

Saying that the marketing budgets of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co are 20 times higher than HTC’s, Wang said the firm must improve its marketing strategies.

Chief financial officer Chang Chia-lin said that HTC increased research and development investment by 4 percent annually to NT$13 billion (US$419.33 million) last year, while its marketing expenses dropped 19.26 percent to NT$26 billion from a year ago.

HTC does not sell well using conventional marketing strategies, Wang said, adding that it would not renew US actor Robert Downey Jr’s contract after this year, but that it would keep working with the popular Taiwanese rock group Mayday.

In an attempt to develop new business, HTC would develop virtual reality applications, such as the HTC Vive virtual reality headset that it developed with US-based game developer Valve, Wang said.

Wang said that the HTC Vive, which was unveiled at the annual World Mobile Congress in Barcelona in March, has been well-received by the market and that the company would focus on virtual reality development.

“I am upbeat about HTC’s outlook. We aim to focus on developing the right products,” Wang said.

The company has not announced a launch date for the Vive.