It’s not a secret in the industry that HTC isn’t a powerhouse in the smartphone and mobile industry anymore. People close to the matter are now saying that the Taiwanese company is in discussion about what to do with the business. They are exploring options like separating their virtual reality business or actually selling the whole company. It has already come to this point after less than stellar sales of their recent products like their current flagship, the HTC U11.
Another option would be to bring in a strategic investor to save the business, but that is probably an unlikely scenario as well. They are working with an adviser on how best to proceed given their situation. They have Vive, their virtual reality headset business, and they are thinking of spinning it off as another company, given that VR is still in its early stage and may (or may not) reach its peak i the next few years. They have been trying to refocus on the high-end VR business, shipping more than 190,000 units in the first quarter.
Selling off the whole company may be a stretch, as they will be hard pressed to find a buyer willing to take on a company with a lot of different products. In just five years, HTC’s value has gone down 75 percent to just $1.8 billion. Smartphone share has gone down below 2 percent as well. So who will want to acquire a company like that is an “open question”, said Ramon Llamas, IDC’s research manager for wearables and mobile phones. Someone from China may be an option.
But then again all of these things are still under discussion and consultation. HTC may even decide to not push through with any of these and just stick it out and see if business will pick up, with hopefully better products in the offing.
VIA: Bloomberg
Have they ever thought to lower the price, bring back 3.5 and durable, at least, one phone? Shiny glass might be ok to some, but some want old htc back. I think that U11 brought more new buyers as much as it threw away as many old. Sticking to confusing and full of incompatibilities USB C audio and removal of awesome htc 3.5 definitely harmed a lot U11. Durability is also gonne. Diversity htc and lower prices. And advertising!