By Chris Chang, posted Oct 20, 2011 at 12:23 PM, 555 views,

HTC Boss Thinks The Stylus Isn’t Dead Yet

HTC co-founder and chairwoman Cher Wang joined Walt Mossberg onstage at tech event AsiaD to talk about how the company became an industry giant of smartphones and tablets, where the company was just a manufacturer of notebook computers in the old days. Yeah, you would not believe this, Wang got her start in tech selling motherboards many years ago, and today, she’s the boss of HTC, visiting Apple’s Palo Alto Store, and still thinks tablets need stylus.

HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang Highlights and Interview
(click here for video)

First, here’s a basic introduction on Cher Wang. She is not a normal woman at all, she is the most influential woman in technology. The company Wang founded in the late 1990s, HTC, makes more than one out of every six smartphones currently on the American market. There was a time when Wang was forced to make a choice: focus on notebooks or shift gears to hand-held devices, a market that showed signs of promise. And guess what, Wang urged the company shift to cellphones. Today, we see HTC unveiling several Android-enabled smartphones, and in the coming years, HTC is poised to be Google and Microsoft’s secret weapon in selling their respective smartphone operating systems to the masses.

The Interview

So, Wang communicated with Walt Mossberg today at AsiaD about some of the devices her company is creating today, about HTC’s partnership with Android, and about her belief in the stylus. Below are some highlights of the interview.

Walt: Is the competition in the Android market getting tougher with new rivals like Samsung?

Wang admits that it is, but says she isn’t bothered by it because the market is so big. She said, “We welcome the competition.” But Walt went on to ask about HTC’s arch-rival, and he again suggests that it’s Samsung. Wang responds by saying, “The market is still very young so there’s lots of room for eveyone. Once you touch an HTC phone, you’ll never put it down.“

Walt: Is it the right moment for tablets? How does HTC view the tablet market?

This seems to be a tough one to answer. Wang says the tablet market is at an even more nascent stage than the smartphone market. She suggests companies need to take a complete approach to tablets, but doesn’t explain what that is. And she even encourages Walt to attend HTC’s next tablet announcement. When Walt wants to know if she’s confident the next HTC tablet will perform well at market, Wang said, “It’s getting better.“

Walt: Do you worry about companies that have the ability to produce their own components? You’re a much smaller company than many of your competitors. Does this put you at a disadvantage?

Wang notes that HTC actually does a lot of its own chipset design, well, this is true considering HTC has purchased VIA Semiconductor’s graphics business back in June this year. Beyond this, HTC is very, very good at cultivating strong partnerships with powerful component allies.

Walt: Does HTC have a phone that runs Android that costs under $100 US?

This is a very good question, but Wang doesn’t quite answer. She only suggests that as technology improves it likely will. And finally, the question below is our favorite one.

Walt: Why do you think the stylus is really important?

Guess what, Wang insists that the stylus is a key differentiator for it in an increasingly crowded market, while Steve Jobs said, “Who wants a stylus?”.

Anyway, we are still wondering why Wang visited Apple’s Palo Alto Store to purchase Apple products back in May. C’mon, we want an answer to that!

Source: AllThingsD