Skip to main content

Beats and HTC part ways, but mobile exclusivity will continue

Posted in: Mobile Accessories, Mobile hardware

July 22nd, 2012, 18:27 by Ian

Today HTC and Beats have taken another step apart in their partnership, as Beats have purchased back some of the shares they sold to HTC last year.

Beats execs once again have a controlling interest in their own company, as HTC have agreed to sell them back half of the shares purchased in last years acquisition. Beats now have 75% of the shares, while the remaining roughly 25% still belong to HTC.

This news does not come as a surprise, considering HTC CEO Martin Fichter told CNET this past April that headphones are not a deciding factor when purchasing smartphones. Since that time, no premium Beats headsets have come bundled with new HTC devices – although the Beats equalizer options have been included – most notably in the new HTC One series.

This trend is likely to continue, as HTC and Beats have not completely cut ties, at least for the time being. The two companies have announced that Beats audio enhancements will continue to be exclusive to HTC, with a joint marketing campaign in the works for later this year.

According to HTC, the readjustment of shares is aimed at giving Beats more freedom to expand globally. It’s still too early to speculate whether this expansion will continue to include HTC as a major shareholder or not.

Source | Via


View the original article here

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meizu Russia confirms “Ubuntu rumors”

Yup, just as we’ve told you before, Ubuntu is coming to a Meizu smartphone near you. We still don’t have the official announcement, but details keep coming.,, The latest information (or that’s confirmation) comes from Meizu Russia, which says that Meizu engineers are in fact working on an Ubuntu version of the Meizu MX3. The work is apparently still underway to make things stable, and in the meantime they [engineers] are also working on a new version of Android-based Flyme ROM for both the Meizu MX2 and MX3, adding that Ubuntu won’t be released until the updated Flyme ROM is launched. It is said that Meizu will use Ubuntu as its ticket to the US market later in the year. At that time, we may also see either a revamped MX3 model or the whole new MX4 smartphone that will sport even better hardware under the hood. As usual, we’ll be on the lookout for any news coming from the Ubuntu camp and let you know as soon as we have something new to add. Stay tuned… [Via: GizChina] Dusan has been...

Dorada Software Updates Popular iOS Podcasting Application

AppId is over the quota London, United Kingdom – Dorada Software today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of the 2.0 update to the popular “RSSRadio” podcasting application. RSSRadio allows users to subscribe, download and listen to podcasts on both the iPhone and iPad. “With the recent release of Apples “Podcasts” application the bar has been raised for look and feel in these kind of apps and its harder to stand out from the crowd” says Daniel Broad, owner of Dorada Software. Daniel further explains “Competing on features can often be the a default choice, but I decided to go the extra mile and invest in a professionally designed user interface, concentrating firstly on the iPhone but for iPad also. I think RSSRadio now looks great, and is even easier to use.” RSSRadio 2.0 is available today on the App Store, in both a free and paid version. Both versions have advanced features such as: * Push notifications for new episodes * Location based background downl...

Android apps coming to Windows Phones?

There’s a weird rumor going around the Interwebs, suggesting that Microsoft may allow Android apps to run on Windows Phones. Something like that would quickly increase the app count for Microsoft’s mobile platform, but there are downsides as well. For one thing, this could entice developers to skip “regular” native development for Windows Phone. It’s a tricky choice. On one hand, the Redmond giant could benefit in the short term to have all those Android apps and games available on Windows Phone handsets. On the other hand, they could pretty much face extinction from the mobile game, with Windows Phone pretty much turning into yet another Android launcher. So no, we don’t think Microsoft will allow this to happen. At the same time, it may not stop other companies from pursuing this opportunity. Think BlueStacks, the company that already allows Android apps to run on Windows computers. Perhaps these same guys/gals can enable the same functionality on Windows Phones. We doubt the Redmon...