When Cher Wang enters a roomful of people, they struggle to contain their curiosity. As Taiwan's richest woman, founder of two important technology companies, Via and HTC, and a daughter of the island's most revered tycoon, the late Wang Yung-ching, she is naturally a focus of public attention. But her determination to avoid it has earned her a reputation as shy and secretive.

Only since HTC, the smartphone company she set up in 1997, became a fast-rising star among global gadget makers has the 50-year-old chairman of the company engaged with the public.

Yet it is her ability to put herself in the shoes of the consumer that observers say is one of the biggest factors behind the success of, first, the chipset maker Via, and then HTC, which has made the jump from contract manufacturer to branded vendor. It is a switch that other Taiwan IT companies have struggled to make.