5 ms·

This would have been great if Google had bought HTC about three years ago, back when it was making the HTC One M7. The company was struggling then, but still ha

This would have been great if Google had bought HTC about three years ago, back when it was making the HTC One M7. The company was struggling then, but still had plenty of prestige. The problem now is that HTC has been sinking for so long that most of its famous engineers and personnel have long since jumped ship, so I'm not even sure Google will get much out of this acqui-hire. I would assume that none of this involves the Vive, as that seems too profitable right now for HTC to sell. Don't get me wrong, if we got another HTC Google Play Edition phone using an HTC 10 successor (really don't like the U11, go back to the HTC One design template, please), that would be awesome. But I'm not holding my breath.

on_and_off 9y ago
Honest question : Is the Vive really profitable ? It seems to me that this current generation of VR is a niche that lacks any killer app and that any tangible improvement is very incertain
- SolarNet 9y ago
  Yea, but they can charge any amount of money for it. The market is so small, that they can charge arbitrary profit for the best headset in the market. They also make all the peripheral and headset prerequisties and components, so when people compete on new peripherals or headsets, they still win.
asafira 9y ago
How do you know that HTC has been losing their good engineers? Otherwise, I had long thought that this move by Google would be to bolster their manufacturing capabilities, less so a move to acqui-hire amazing engineers.
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  Well, first their lead of VP of Design, Scott Croyle quit in 2014: https://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/htc-design-head-leaving/ https://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/htc-design-head-leaving/ Then his successor, Jonah Becker, left about ten months after: https://www.engadget.com/2015/03/26/htc-jonah-becker-resigns/ https://www.engadget.com/2015/03/26/htc-jonah-becker-resigns... And finally, Google poached one of the lead engineers behind the Vive: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14395134/google-daydream-claude-zellweger-htc-vive-designer https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14395134/google-daydream-... I have no clue if Daniel Hundt, seen here talking about the One M7 design, is still with HTC or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V95163BU-sY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V95163BU-sY
  - ndesaulniers 9y ago
    > most of its famous engineers and personnel have long since jumped ship so 2 VPs, and a third that jumped ship...to Google...ok Admiral...salutes
    - vvanders 9y ago
      Pretty much all the good engineers I knew on the US and Taiwan side left years ago. Once Samsung started dropping $B on marketing it was unfortunately only a matter of time. Your average consumer doesn't do deep research and tends to just buy what's advertised heavily. Source: Ex-HTC from '10 era.
      - asafira 9y ago
        I mean, it's likely because it is really hard to differentiate in the smartphone market. The things that change y/y are kind of minute details in the scheme of things. (It's not like a competitive smartphone today would release without a GPS chip, for example)

on_and_off 9y ago

Honest question : Is the Vive really profitable ? It seems to me that this current generation of VR is a niche that lacks any killer app and that any tangible improvement is very incertain

SolarNet 9y ago
Yea, but they can charge any amount of money for it. The market is so small, that they can charge arbitrary profit for the best headset in the market. They also make all the peripheral and headset prerequisties and components, so when people compete on new peripherals or headsets, they still win.

asafira 9y ago

How do you know that HTC has been losing their good engineers? Otherwise, I had long thought that this move by Google would be to bolster their manufacturing capabilities, less so a move to acqui-hire amazing engineers.

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
Well, first their lead of VP of Design, Scott Croyle quit in 2014: https://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/htc-design-head-leaving/ https://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/htc-design-head-leaving/ Then his successor, Jonah Becker, left about ten months after: https://www.engadget.com/2015/03/26/htc-jonah-becker-resigns/ https://www.engadget.com/2015/03/26/htc-jonah-becker-resigns... And finally, Google poached one of the lead engineers behind the Vive: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14395134/google-daydream-claude-zellweger-htc-vive-designer https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14395134/google-daydream-... I have no clue if Daniel Hundt, seen here talking about the One M7 design, is still with HTC or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V95163BU-sY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V95163BU-sY
- ndesaulniers 9y ago
  > most of its famous engineers and personnel have long since jumped ship so 2 VPs, and a third that jumped ship...to Google...ok Admiral...salutes
  - vvanders 9y ago
    Pretty much all the good engineers I knew on the US and Taiwan side left years ago. Once Samsung started dropping $B on marketing it was unfortunately only a matter of time. Your average consumer doesn't do deep research and tends to just buy what's advertised heavily. Source: Ex-HTC from '10 era.
    - asafira 9y ago
      I mean, it's likely because it is really hard to differentiate in the smartphone market. The things that change y/y are kind of minute details in the scheme of things. (It's not like a competitive smartphone today would release without a GPS chip, for example)