HTC is not doing well in the smartphone arena, something that has been going on for quite some time. The company had tried a number of things to get itself back on the right track. However, none was successful.
With failures in mind, HTC is taking a different path and its CEO, Cher Wang, is pushing forward with this new initiative.
Wang says virtual reality is more important than smartphones. This is not surprising seeing as several competing companies are focusing a great deal on VR headsets and other wearables.
"Now we are more realistic. We feel that we should apply our best design to different type of sectors. Yes, smartphones are important, but to create a natural extension to other connected devices like wearables and virtual reality is more important," she says in a statement.
The company is working on its first VR headset, the HTC Vive, in partnership with PC gaming powerhouse Valve. The headset is set to go up for preorder next month, and if it turns out well, it will become the company's saving grace. It might all boil down to how well consumers and critics react to other competing VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift.
We like the Vive because it has its room scale experience in 360 degrees, which means that users should be able to walk around anywhere in a virtual world. The Oculus Rift is not yet capable of doing this, so that's a great selling point for HTC and Valve.
For those who are interested, preorders will begin come Feb. 29 this year, according to Wang.
The idea that VR should be more important to HTC is a big bet, one that could easily cost the company millions since the technology has not been sufficiently tried and tested in the public domain. Several devices have been pegged for release this year, most notably hardware coming from Oculus and Sony.
Despite the fact that VR has yet to prove itself, HTC needs to find something to grab on to, and this piece of technology could be the answer.
HTC's recent revenue update shows that it made $660 million for the third quarter, and suffered an operating loss of around $151 million. If we look back to a year ago, HTC's revenue for the third quarter was $1.3 billion, so clearly this has not been going well.
When it comes down to whether or not HTC will be acquired by another company seeing as it is worth next to nothing these days, we understand that Asus might be lurking in the shadows.
Back in 2012, HTC was the premier Android manufacturer and was also the first OEM to bring an Android smartphone to market. However, fierce competition from Apple and Samsung has turned out to be too much.
Even in China where several smaller companies are finding room to grow, HTC is having a difficult time.
For now, HTC will continue on the path of making smartphones, but we're guessing if its VR push takes off, smartphones might become secondary and then eventually, entirely unimportant.
