John Wang is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of HTC and by some is also called “Chief Technology Wizard” at HTC. Two years ago he started work on improvements of user interface and the result of this work – HTC Touch and TouchFLO technology! John Wang is the person, who designed and developed the new touch screen technology of HTC!

Below is an email interview I did with John Wang which just came in….

HORNET:
1. Was the design of the Touch prompted by the iPhone design?

JOHN WANG:
HTC started working on the Touch 2 years ago before the iPhone announcement. During that time, our CEO, Peter Chou wanted something that achieves “super simplicity” while functionalities and practicalities are not compromised. That is where we decided to define simplicity and went back to the simplest and most natural of times of a human’s life – infancy – and started the concept from there.

HORNET:
2. What is the significant design difference and advantages over the iPhone?

JOHN WANG:
The HTC Touch is a technological breakthrough for us. If you look at the touch screen phones available in the market today, almost all of them have a bezel. However, we decided to remove the bezel for Touch for the TouchFLO, HTC’s very own breakthrough technology, to come alive. It took a lot of design and technological advancements for something seemingly simple to happen. The software programming was also a lot more extensive and in-depth than it may seem on the surface. We wanted the software to able to differentiate between the stylus, finger and thumb, as well as accidental probes. And we have achieved that.

In addition, the Windows Mobile 6 platform, which Touch is built on, provides easy integration with Exchange servers, Outlook and Office, allowing seamless interaction. Users can connect easily through email and other applications wherever they are.

Our goal has never been about taking a music player and adding a phone on top. Instead, our goal was to start with a phone and broaden its functionality so that consumers could optimize the phone to match their needs and usage.

HORNET:
3. Is the Touch 2nd Generation already in the pipeline when you designed the Touch?

JOHN WANG:
While I am unable to reveal the line of devices that we are planning at this moment, what I can say is that you can always expect more new and exciting products that are technologically advanced and improved from HTC.

HORNET:
4. Were there features you omitted in the first edition because of rushing the product to the market before the iPhone?

JOHN WANG:
We have been working on the HTC Touch for 2 years. Our announcement was in line with our plans in terms of being the right time to market. We are confident that the marketplace would embrace this new category of phone and that consumers are ready for a phone with the right functions but in an easy-to-use interface. Obviously, we’re constantly working to improve this experience and will continue to improve the TouchFLO interface to bring even more value and simplicity to our customers without sacrificing features that they need.

HORNET:
5. Is there going to be a Touch 2nd Generation within the next 12 months?

JOHN WANG:
Refer to Question 3.

HORNET:
6. They always say that a second product is better than the first because the first product spawns the new ideas that become incorporated in the second. What is your idea of the RIGHT Touch if you have to do it all over again? What are the features you will add to make it outstanding?

JOHN WANG:
With more than a decade of experience in designing the world’s most pioneering smartphones, HTC continues to believe in constant innovation and creative designs. Products are constantly evolving and being improved upon everywhere. In line with this, we’re always working to improve and better the touch screen experience to bring even more value to our customers. That is also the very reason why we first introduced the HTC Touch as we are confident that the Touch is a new category that will be embraced by the marketplace.

HORNET:
7. Why the new features were available in some models not TOTALLY incorporated into the Touch to make it a featured-rich phone eg the VueFlo?

JOHN WANG:
HTC has always pride itself in providing handhelds catered to different user groups. As it is, we believe that people are not homogenous. However, HTC constantly strives to provide the best possible combination for a specific market once we’ve identified the vital needs of our users.

HORNET:
8. Was cost the deterrent for adding available features or was it the policy of HTC not to create the ONE PDA PHONE that has it all.

JOHN WANG:
Refer to Question 7.