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I think this is a good deal for nobody but those HTC engineers Google is going to hire, at least short term. The $330M price is so low none of the HTC investor
by gorbachev 9y ago
I think this is a good deal for nobody but those HTC engineers Google is going to hire, at least short term.
The $330M price is so low none of the HTC investors are going to make any money on it. HTC's mobile phone business has been unprofitable for years and Google won't make any money on it either.
Who knows maybe Google is planning on using the HTC business unit as a sort of an R&D lab for Android hardware, with no real plan on making it a traditionally profitable business.
- gorbachev 9y agoEvan Blass claims Google is acquiring some engineering assets of HTC, and that HTC will retain the brand name. That seems to support my hypothesis about the R&D lab. source: https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/910458246082826240 https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/910458246082826240
- asafira 9y agoserious question: what is the most impressive tech that has come out of HTC R&D in recent years? (for phones)
- johansch 9y agoWhat are engineering salaries like at HTC in Taipei? (A chinese-speaking friend of mine with excellent credentials and capabilities in OS quality graphical design was seriously low-balled when applying for a job there.)
- mwfj 9y agoAnswering myself: According to Glassdoor: Software Engineer: 20k USD/year Senior Software Engineer: 24k USD/year Principal Engineer: 29k USD/year (https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/HTC-Taipei-Salaries-EI_IE41150.0,3_IL.4,10_IC3271041.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/HTC-Taipei-Salaries-EI_IE41...) I get that it's not exactly Silicon Valley, but, wow.
- pc86 9y agoHow does that actually compare to cost of living, tax climate, and wages for other jobs in the area, though? Posting the USD amount provides zero information. If the median income is $8k USD then $29k is pretty fantastic. If it's $60k...
- johansch 9y agohttps://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Taipei https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Taipei Found this comment which I am going to blindly trust. ;) So, for reference, the HTC salaries were in the range of 50-70k NTD/month. "90% of people working in Taipei make from 22-68k a month. College grads often make 22k a month out of College and those with a Master Degree start at 30,000NT a month. They spend about 5 years to make 40k a month. An Engineer might make 50k-75k a month. The only reason the Average is skewed to 70k is because Taipei has millionaires and billionaires that skew these numbers. It in NO WAY represents what the everyday working Taiwanese or Foreigner generally makes. TAIPEI WAGES Min Wage 18,000 Factory Work 18,000-20,000 Typical Office Worker 22,000-40,000 Nurse 30,000-40,000 Taxi Driver 60,000-70,000 Flight Attendant 50,000-60,000? Foreign English Teacher 55,000-70,000 Engineer 50,000-70,000 Doctor 150,000-400,000 Foreigner Specialist with Foreign Income---150,000-300,000"
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- friendstock 9y agoNote that in Taiwan, most companies offer a year-end bonus (at Chinese new year) of several months of salary. At the minimum this is 1 or 2 months, but depending on individual or company performance, it can go as high as 4 months (and in extreme cases, even more!). Hence the monthly salaries need to be multiplied by 14x or 16x or more, rather than 12x to get an annual salary.
- johansch 9y ago(Ok.)
- drzaiusapelord 9y agoConsidering the recent Pixels were made by HTC, I think Google just wants to cut out the middle man and have its own phone hardware business for the Pixel. This allows them to compete with Apple by having an official flagship and by being able to produce this flagship without the added cost of another company's profits and the whims of cellphone OEMs too focused on their own branded products, and all the inefficiencies that brings. HTC has everything Google needs for an in-house Pixel from soup to nuts and they're hurting for money. Its a happy coincidence HTC is collapsing right when Google is getting serious about launching its own branded flagship phones. I also suspect aggressive moves like this mean that Samsung is probably going to pull the trigger on a full Tizen move and eventually stop producing android phones. The Pixel is aimed right at Galaxy buyers. I'm skeptical this is just a coincidence. The agreement that Nexus was kinda, sorta a developer's phone and will always be hobbled by mid-range camera, battery, and storage seems to have ended with the Pixel line. I just received a Pixel after my 6P died and its about the closest to iPhone quality I've seen on an Android device. Its clearly a serious attempt by Google to have a proper branded flagship.
- throwaway2048 9y agoIf only they didnt have their own phone hardware divison previously.
- Apocryphon 9y agoAs much as it's entertaining to see Samsung try to prop up Tizen as a deterrent against Google, it hardly seems ready for mass adoption.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoIt likely isn't a top priority for Samsung, so resources on it could likely be better. I presume if Samsung decided to actually pull the trigger, they'd release one last Android phone while massively ramping up the scale of their Tizen division to get it ready to ship.
- bitmapbrother 9y agoI don't see why Google needs their own phone hardware business anymore than I see Apple acquiring Foxconn because they need their own phone hardware business. Apple or Google does not want to take on the overhead of manufacturing phones. HTC has a very good R&D department and that's likely the crown jewel of what Google is after. I would be surprised if this was more than just a acquihire.
- Animats 9y agoIt's just an acqui-hire. "Google will keep the HTC brand and take on about 100 HTC engineers". Who won't get $3.3 million each.
- johansch 9y agoThose $3.3 million per engineer correspond to roughly 100 years of current salaries, according to the numbers I posted elsewhere in this thread. :/
- bagacrap 9y agoThose numbers seem exceptionally low and it seems unlikely Google would think these engineers worth paying a premium for if the rest of the industry apparently does not (i.e. if they're worth that much, they should have left to work somewhere else already).
- johansch 9y agoEngineering seems widely undervalued as a profession in many asian locales (not in Beijing/Shanghai/Shenzhen though, but then you have to use air- and internet filters). I don't think they have any easy options if they want to stay in Taiwan.
- izacus 9y agoHTC is producing the Pixel phones, so making fatcat investors happy might not be the first priority for Google. I also like how you framed something being good (only) for workers like a bad thing :)