Google signs $1.1bn HTC smartphone deal

[V_R]

Alphabet's Google has struck a $1.1bn (£822m) deal with Taiwan's HTC to expand its smartphone business.

Google will not take a stake in the firm, but some HTC staff will join the Silicon Valley giant.

The Taiwanese company was once a major player in the smartphone market but has struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung.

Google expects the deal to close by early 2018, provided it gets the all clear from regulators.

Shares in HTC were suspended in Taiwan on Thursday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41343586


Official Google blog post.
https://www.blog.google/topics/hardware/google-signs-agreement-htc-continuing-our-big-bet-hardware/

 

[Ian]

It's interesting to see their growing presence in hardware - I guess they've fully capitalised the search and advertising markets, so it's time to keep growing Android.

I thought this part of the article was particularly interesting (and true):

Yesterday, within just a few hours, most of Apple's millions upon millions of users were using the latest mobile operating system, having tapped on the prompt to download iOS 11.

Contrast that experience on Android, where the company's impressive and innovative updates are greatly hampered as it can take months, sometimes years, for those features to filter to users.

I sometimes wonder if I should move back to iOS, specifically for the problems with patching Android devices. I really don't want to, so it'll take a good reason for me to move - but Android devices have a lot of room for improvement in this area.

 

[V_R]

Yeah the whole fragmentation on Android is a real issue, and the likes of Samsung don't help.

The best thing about iPhones is the updates. But then on the flip side they only have a few devices to worry about.

This is why I really want to go back to stock Android, ie a Pixel.