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ASUS CEO Resigns as Company Shifts Mobile Focus To Power Users (engadget.com) 100

Posted by msmash from the change-in-plan dept.
Earlier today, ASUS announced that long-time CEO Jerry Shen is stepping down ahead of "a comprehensive corporate transformation" -- part of which involving a new co-CEO structure, as well as a major shift in mobile strategy to focus on gamers and power users. From a report: In other words, we'll be seeing more ROG Phones and maybe fewer ZenFones, which is a way to admit defeat in what ASUS chairman Jonney Shih described as a "bloody battlefield" in his interview with Business Next. During his 11 years serving as CEO, Shen oversaw the launch of the PadFone series, Transformer series, ZenBook series and ZenFone series. Prior to that, Shen was also credited as the main creator of the Eee PC, the small machine that kickstarted the netbook race in 2006.
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ASUS CEO Resigns as Company Shifts Mobile Focus To Power Users More

ASUS CEO Resigns as Company Shifts Mobile Focus To Power Users

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  • Co-CEO? That seems a little strange, I wonder how that will work out.

    • Re:Co-CEO? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Desler ( 1608317 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @04:52PM (#57799934)

      RIM did it for 2 decades and it seemed to work out just fine.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Huawei has a "rotating CEO" structure. The current CEO is locked in Cananda, with a pending extradition request to the USoA.

      As Desler pointed out, RIM had that sort of structure for decades, and is not uncommon in the CEO/COO structure, ho have them work as CO-CEOs for all intent and purposes.

      How that works out deoends on the company culture and the people they choose as CO-CEOs, not as the CO-CEO structure per se.

    • It sounds hilarious. I'd love to see two CEO psychopaths having a retard slap-fight. I'd buy the pay-per-view.

      • It sounds hilarious.

        It actually worked well for the Roman *Republic* for nearly five centuries.
        "A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic (509 to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the highest level of the cursus honorum (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired).
        Each year, the citizens of Rome elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding imperium each month,[citation needed] and a consul's imperium ext

        • Well, I was joking a bit. I can see the arrangement working in some situations. After all, married couples somehow still decide where to eat out and what movie to go see. I also study Roman history and the Republic is much more interesting to me. The article points out that the situation did falter somewhat in the time of the Republic, but was re-established. Anyhow, I'm not saying having two people lead jointly is a fatal arrangement. It's just that the current type of people who become corporate CEOs stri
          • On the other hand with a co-CEO role clearly advertised ahead of time perhaps the required sharing is a way to have the more psychopathic go work somewhere else? :-)
            • Well, that's what I was originally suggesting. Do NOT tell them, then give them a week to work in the same office fighting with the other Co-CEO. Then sell the whole thing as a reality TV show. :-) But seriously, sure, of course, the psycho CEO types would run away quick if they knew they had to share power.

        • Sparta also had two "kings".
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

        • Yes, but back then leaders who fucked up at least had the honor to kill themselves.

      • You don't wish that on your worst enemy. You know what happens to you when a CEO makes a mistake? Yes. YOU get fired.

        Now imagine two CEOs that don't like each other where one considers everything the other one does or makes others do a mistake. No matter what you're told to do, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

    • Rome did it for 500 years ...
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • Apple led the way (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @04:51PM (#57799926)

    Apple realized long ago a battle at the low end is one that leaves no victors.

    It's a good idea to focus on finding and winning over people who are willing to pay for extra power and features. The other benefit of that approach is you are likely to find more loyal users, if you go chasing after people who ignore specs and value and just chase the cheapest model, they will have zero brand loyalty and may well not purchase your phones again when upgrading.

    To win over repeat customers means putting money into design and build that knock you right out of contention at the low end of the market.

    • If you think that design is what a company needs to win loyalty you're wrong. Thats not what made Apple famous let say.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "Apple realized long ago a battle at the low end is one that leaves no victors."

      Except for the victors it leaves, of course. If there were no victors there would be no low end.

      Ignoring the vapid, meaningless SuperKendall rhetoric for a moment, it's also interesting to point out that Apple's initial focus in their turnaround was the low end iMac series. If it wasn't for the low end Apple would not have made it at all. Their current boutique status evolved later.

      "It's a good idea to focus on finding and wi

      • Except for the victors it leaves, of course. If there were no victors there would be no low end.

        Survivors are not victors, but they remain.

        Ignoring the vapid, meaningless SuperKendall rhetoric for a moment

        Wow there was actually a part you didn't consider vapid, or your post would have ended there! High praise indeed!

        it's also interesting to point out that Apple's initial focus in their turnaround was the low end iMac series.

        "low end iMac"

        BWA HAHAH HA AHA HAH AHAH AHAAHH AHA AH AHHA AAH AH !!!!

        At the time i

      • "Apple realized long ago a battle at the low end is one that leaves no victors."

        Except for the victors it leaves, of course. If there were no victors there would be no low end.

        When the most successful party has 87% of the industry profits and the distant second place has 10% then you have one victor and one intact survivor. What could we call the remaining market participants? "Beleaguered?" :-)

        "Apple (AAPL) captured 87% of smartphone industry profits in the fourth quarter, despite accounting for only about 18% of total units sold in the period. ... Samsung came in second in smartphone operating profits with 10% of total industry profits" https://www.investors.com/news... [investors.com]

        • Yes, but that quote is wrong, because it compares apples software+hardware with Android hardware only. To get a true comparison you need to add all the profit which google get from the Android OS and bundled software in order to compare with apple. And then the numbers will change, and the true conclusion is:

          The really big money is in software, not hardware. Which is true for almost all electronic commodities. With Intel as the odd thing out.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Right now the product that is taking the lead, the one product that can really set you apart from the rest of the mob, the product that Apple has already started selling, the soon to become the number one product, PRIVACY. It's the one product where you can actively fuck over all the major competitor, except of course Apple who has already gotten there.

    • You do realize Apple doesn't make their products? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @05:38PM (#57800296)
      The Macbooks are (currently) made by Quanta. They're an ODM - original design manufacturer [wikipedia.org]. That's like an OEM, except they also design the product. They're the ones who came up with such innovations like hogging a unibody laptop chassis out of a single solid piece of aluminum, not Apple. Slashdot had an article describing how they bought the CNC milling machinery, were playing around with hogging out aluminum billets, and pitched the idea to Apple. Quanta also makes laptops for pretty much every other laptop brand out there, so no, Apple doesn't have a monopoly on quality. I always tell buyers that about the only thing the brand name tells you is what sort of aftermarket support you'll get.

      Asus also started off as an ODM too. They made the old Powerbooks and the plastic Macbooks, as well as a few other Apple devices. They spun off their ODM division as Pegatron (the company founder likes Pegasus - both company names are derived from it) a decade ago due to complaints from their customers about conflict of interest (they also sold laptops under the Asus brand). Likewise, the iPhones are made by Foxconn, which is probably more widely known due to PR managers at Apple dumping blame for all the bad things that happen to iPhones onto Foxconn in order to preserve the Apple brand name.

      The only hardware Apple makes is their processor. Everything else is made by other companies. Memory by Samsung and SK Hynix. Flash storage by Samsung and Toshiba. Screen by Samsung and LG, camera by Sony, etc. Apple just hires an ODM and gives them the general design specs they want it to meet. The ODM makes the product, buying parts that are available to all other brand names, and packages them together into a whole. Just like every other brand name. There is no magic unicorn dust inside. Sorry to burst your bubble.

      What Apple figured out is the Gucci effect. If you develop a strong brand name, people will pay extra to buy it regardless of features or quality.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        The Macbooks are (currently) made by Quanta. They're an ODM - original design manufacturer [wikipedia.org]. That's like an OEM, except they also design the product. They're the ones who came up with such innovations like hogging a unibody laptop chassis out of a single solid piece of aluminum, not Apple. Slashdot had an article describing how they bought the CNC milling machinery, were playing around with hogging out aluminum billets, and pitched the idea to Apple. Quanta also makes laptops for pretty much every other laptop brand out there, so no, Apple doesn't have a monopoly on quality.
        I always tell buyers that about the only thing the brand name tells you is what sort of aftermarket support you'll get.

        This is exactly why I tell people not to buy Apple. My work Dell has a melt down, they send me a replacement, I swap the disk and send back the dead one. A Mac has a meltdown and I have to go to an apple store and wait for them to deign to see me.

        What Apple figured out is the Gucci effect. If you develop a strong brand name, people will pay extra to buy it regardless of features or quality.

        Exactly, Apple is a brand. Nothing more, nothing less. If Apple's were priced the same as Dells, and Dell is not a cheap computer brand here in the UK, the Apple would be considered a vastly inferior product.

        Now I do own an Asus as a personal laptop. Its got the

    • a battle at the low end is one that leaves no victors.

      When WalMart (and Amazon) find out that low margins combined with high volume leads to zero profit, they're gonna be so pissed. Your observation finally explains why WalMart disappeared from the economy, a death by a thousand mom'n'pop cuts.

  • Netbooks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Voice of satan ( 1553177 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @05:05PM (#57800036)

    His netbook move was not vain.

    I still have one. 32 bits celeron working OK with a small Linux distro. I use it as a calculator for lab related stuff. Back in the day, a Linux compatible portable computer sold for cheap without the Microsoft tax was big news.

  • The dude was basically the polar opposite of Steve Jobs. Cringeworthy mobile projects, cringeworthy presentation of said products. I hope they appoint someone better than that. Their laptop lineup is second to none right now. I'm posting this from an X1 running Linux.

  • Everyone's making the same phone - ever increasing screen size, gimmicks like fingerprint reader front or back or under screen, everyone's removing microSD slots, headphone jacks, using the same set of LCD/OLED panels and other components. If they don't want to make something that caters to smaller but real markets (outdoor activities, smaller phones, and in this case, gamers), then they're competing with bigger companies that can throw $$$ into buying customers. So I guess this is good for them... except t

    • It's a really hard tightrope to walk going after a niche, though, because your sales will be less so it's really important you cut costs. If you end up with lower quality components as a result, then the niche you're targeting will probably ignore your offering and buy one of the other phones that fits their niche well-enough. And if you don't compromise the quality of the components, you need to ensure you don't spend too much on marketing - but then if you don't spend on marketing you may not make the sal

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by lordlod ( 458156 )

      Shooting for a niche phone is a really high risk move.

      There are strong economy of scale effects from going with the pack. The screen suppliers all have the screen size and type you are after. Components have been certified and specially designed. You can also leverage existing designs to reduce your time to market.

      This ties into costs. Component costs are $200 - $300 USD for value to high end phones, this will rapidly increase if you do anything custom. Then add in your design costs and profit, divided acro

  • From a computer technician point of view (and my personal opinion) they are SO FUCKING BADLY designed. All the asus laptops that I worked with just took more time for nothing and it felt like all of them could break easily. they material was made cheap.

    I mean, just to replace a hard drive was a nightmare imo. I had to remove the entire bottom plate and sometimes the keyboard as well and this is just to replace to access it. Jesus Christ, take a look at the lenovo laptops and at least copy their design to ac

    • Sorry, I cannot second that. I, too, have an Asus notebook. It's now about 3 years old and still running very well, no signs of ever going to fail. I did swap the (secondary) HD for an SSD and it went without a problem. Open tray, pluck old one out, stuff new one in, boot up.

      I do also know Lenovo notebooks and to be honest, I fail to see the huge difference in convenience. What I do see, though, is a difference in price and amount of crapware...

      • its not the fact that an asus laptops years of running good. Its rather when it fails. When you need to change parts. thats where the problem kicks in. The things I need to do in order to change a hard drive or memory is more work and troublesome than other laptops. That could be easily fixed with some tweaks in the laptop case design. Thats what I meant exactly. For lenovo, take a look at some lenovo laptops and asus and you'll see the difference. With Lenovo, theres usually a bay to open and you can swit

  • consolidation in the computer market (Score:3)

    by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @06:14PM (#57800582)

    The client computer market (think desktop, Laptop, workstation, gamers, ultrabook, etc) is ripe for consolidation. Only Dell, HP Ink and apple, have decent margings there (tow of them because economies of scale, the other because is able to charge a premium for the product, this written on a Macbook Air).

    A consolidatation of players is long overdue. In japan, is already happened. NEC sold its client computer arm to Lenovo. Fujitsu separated their PC arm (which itself was the merger of fujitsus and Siemes client computing arm), So did toshiba. Sony divested the Vaio Group (low sales and earnings) and that was acquired by a private equity group which in turn tried to merge the three of them to no avail. Fujistu tired of waiting and flogged the whole thing to Lenovo...

    Asus shoud follow suit and merge, perhaps with arch-nemesis Acer. God knows both companies need the economies of scale to make this work.

    Failing that, any other of the top 7 companies will do. in the Client PC game, economies of scale are one of the most important factors, and short of Dell, HP and Lenovo, no one has enough economies of scale to do good in that game. Either merge on your own volition, or be absorved after a Chapter 7 , chapter 11 or administration proceedings

    Just my two cents.

    • Asus already assembles about half the no name laptops under contract. That's where they started.

      They make a lot of parts, but nobody makes everything.

      • Nope, pegatron (a spinoff of asus, but completely separated company) assembles half the no name laptos around.

        An user by the name solandry explained it very well on this same thread. Failing that, google is your friend.

        • A separate company who's biggest owner is Asus. Which WAS Asus until Asus decided to push their brand in the USA and the EU.

    • So what's gonna be left in the Laptop market is Dell, HP and Apple? In other words, you won't be able to buy a laptop anymore that works, isn't loaded with crapware to the brim or doesn't costs a fortune? Or has all three awesome qualities?

      • Nope, after my proposal, you could still buy a Lenovo (NEC-Fujitsu), Toshiba, Vaio (not sony but still), Asus-Acer, system76, clevo, etc. Actually, in super saturated markes (like PCs), where economies of scale play a *very* important role (like PCs), while in the short term consolidation leads to less options, in the long term, leads to _more_ options than would have been posible without such consolidation, because, once a player goes throug capter 7, chaper 11, or administration, is gone man. two small pl

  • First order of business: fix Customer Support (Score:3)

    by ChrisKnight ( 16039 ) on Thursday December 13, 2018 @07:45PM (#57801076) Homepage
    The ASUS sub on Reddit is filled with stories detailing horrible customer support. If the new CEO doesnâ(TM)t put some effort into improvements in that area their time selling expensive components to gamers will not last very long.

    • Every sub on Reddit is filled with stories of horrible customer support. People rarely go out of their way to comment about good customer support. That's the nature of the beast.

  • I'm considering the Asus ROG phone, Razer Phone 2, and Black Shark Helo for my next phone. Make a landscape slider keyboard addon for the ROG phone and you'll get an instant niche of power user customers - all the people still using Droid 4s, Photon Qs and even Maemo phones like the N900.

    • and you'll get an instant niche

      Not a good target product in a low margin business.

    • I was super excited about the ROG Phone, until they said it was going to cost more than a grand. This is a market that is *DEFINED* by annual spec upgrades, and they want me to spend what a good laptop used to cost, every year? No thanks.

      • Buying a new one every year isn't mandatory. I've never changed phones after less than 5 years. I might soon, although with a phone that's already over 5 years old...

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Ohhh! Wanna have!

    • You know, we have some Panasonic Toughpad barcode scanners that are geared for business/govt customers but they aren't really any more costly than an iPhone or what have you. I've not really thought about using one as a personal device but I don't see why you couldn't, that'd check a lot of those boxes, waterproof and removable battery and so on. You'd just want one without or with a smaller scanner than ours have since it isn't going to fit nicely in a pant pocket. You never see them advertised outside

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