Google has inked a $250 million deal with HTC, aimed at snatching up a substantial portion of the latter’s extended reality (XR) enterprise. This venture allows the tech titan to further burgeon its already thriving virtual and augmented reality hardware skirmish, especially after the recent advent of Android’s XR platform.
This collaboration initiates the transferral of key members of the HTC VIVE engineering team to Google, alongside granting non-exclusive intellectual property permissions from the Taiwanese company’s coffers. Despite these significant transfers to Google, HTC will still maintain rights to continue utilizing and increasing developments within this technology.
This new transaction serves as the sequel to an earlier business affirmation between the two, which saw Google parting with $1.1 billion for HTC’s smartphone segment in 2017.
Google envisages that this acquisition will thrust the development of its Android XR platform into overdrive, consequently nudging ahead in the globular headsets and glasses market. As various tech bigwigs such as Apple and Meta jostle for control of the rapidly-evolving XR technology landscape, this acquisition by Google is undoubtedly a strategic move in the race for dominance.
Further collaboration between Google and HTC in the field of technological exploration is expected down the line, making the partnership one to watch for tech enthusiasts.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
