Google’s .1 billion to acquire HTC’s hardware talent has finally been completed.
Google has completed its acquisition of a major part of HTC’s hardware division. The $1.1 billion acquisition was announced in September 2017 to acquire the same team that worked on the first and second-generation Pixel smartphones. Google is getting a team of 2000 experienced engineers, designers, and other support staff.
The all-cash deal covers a non-exclusive license for HTC’s intellectual property from the company. Just to clarify, Google isn’t acquiring HTC. Instead, Google and HTC have signed an agreement to hand over some of HTC’s employees over to Google. The Taiwanese company will continue to make smartphones and will definitely launch the successor to the HTC U11 in the coming months.
“I’m delighted that we’ve officially closed our deal with HTC, and are welcoming an incredibly talented team to work on even better and more innovative products in the years to come”, said Rick Osterloh, Google’s Senior Vice President of Hardware in a blog post.
“These new colleagues bring decades of experience achieving a series of “firsts” particularly in the smartphone industry—including bringing to market the first 3G smartphone in 2005, the first touch-centric phone in 2007, and the first all-metal unibody phone in 2013. This is also the same team we’ve been working closely with on the development of the Pixel and Pixel 2″, he added.
For Google, the deal makes a lot of sense. The software giant is making its own Google-branded hardware, which is headed by Rick Osterloh, formerly with Motorola. Having a dedicated team should give Google more control over the design and eventually a tighter control over hardware and software. The first generation Pixel smartphones were manufactured by HTC; the second-generation Pixel phones were also manufactured by the Taiwanese company, though South Korea’s LG was also involved in the project. For HTC, the deal comes at a time when the company is struggling financially. Its last few smartphones, be it the HTC One 10 or the HTC U 11 have failed everyone’s expectations.
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