In September of this year, HTC and Google signed an agreement to speed up the 'downsizing' of the pace, according to the agreement, the original participation in the manufacture of Google Pixel mobile HTC members to join Google, HTC to its intellectual property non-exclusive license to Google. The deal, HTC will receive 1.1 billion US dollars.
The above cooperation means that HTC formally sold its ODM mobile phone business, retaining only its own mobile phone brand.But more tragic is that once in the era of intelligent all-powerful HTC, in the face of fierce market competition, may not Do not vote negative recognition.
In a announcement released after the acquisition was completed, Wang Xuehong, chairman of HTC, mentioned that Google and Google reached a cooperation this time. They not only injected powerful innovation and research and development capabilities into the hardware business of Google, but also ensured that HTC is working on smart phones and VIVE virtual reality Sustainable business innovation '.
It also released a new signal - HTC's body label is no longer just 'mobile phone company', but added a more distinctive 'VR company'.
Bet VR, HTC has been doing in recent years.
Since the official launch of Vive, the head-mounted VR device, in March 2015 with Valve, a gaming company, and the announcement of its entry into the VR space, HTC has been hoping to help companies reverse the declining trend with the then new technology of the time. Even willing to sell part of the mobile phone business started to Google, to VR business to win a broader space for development.
HTC wants All in VR's determination, we all see, but only determined to help the already shaky company risk?
A ray of hope
On January 24, HTC held a small tasting event on a new product in Shenzhen, the first public event the company held in 2018.
As if to show the new atmosphere of the new year, Wang Congqing, president of HTC Vive China, was particularly brave on the stage and spent almost an hour sharing the HTC Vive's results in 2017 and the 2018 market outlook This is an extra 20 minutes longer than the scheduled time.
He has reason to feel happy, at least for the recent sales of HTC VR products.
According to HTC official figures, HTC Vive's head-end VR products dominated Jingdong's VR sales volume during the 11th of 2017, though their product prices were not cheap.
As the VR industry gets cooler, it's hard to keep HTC Vive in the leading position in the industry, especially as Wang becomes the heavier burden on HTC's core business.
"When we announced the move to VR in 2015, it felt like going into a maze, and the outside world would think the product itself is pretty, but in fact the business model and the earnings outlook are still unknown." Wang Congqing lamented the gap in sharing the results.
Can not see the direction of not only HTC.
Zheng Xi, research manager of terminal system at IDC, told the news interface reporter that the domestic VR industry has been developing from 2014 to the present and has experienced some major fluctuations in 2017. The first is that many large-scale international manufacturers are involved in this field, such as Microsoft, making some Local companies are squeezed.Second, the original VR vendors in the commercial market, there is a lack of sales channels, there is no real vertical market to open the customer.
In this context, many have grabbed the eye of the VR company, all in that year at peace, but also for the VR industry has not yet opened "performance" ended ahead of schedule.
But Wang Congqing tried to demonstrate to people through a series of data a trend: in 2018 consumer VR equipment market will usher in a real boom.
In his opinion, the VR industry in the past year as a whole is ups and downs, despite the difficulties and challenges, HTC Vive still persevered and achieved some results. Now, the dawn is at hand. Excited.
A group of data from market research firm GFK injected a tonic for the VR industry, with an online market of VR $ 829 million in China in 2017, up 14% from 2016. GFK estimates that in 2018 this figure will Rose to 1.17 billion yuan.
GfK's data also mentions that under the general trend of overall growth in the VR market, the original handset VR is facing a phase-out trend. The market share of high-end VR headsets and VR all-in-one machines will gradually increase. Users' willingness to purchase VR products of over RMB1,000 It is also growing.
This happens to coincide with HTC Vive's current product strategy.
Another highlight of this tasting session is that HTC Vive officially announced that Vive Focus, the all-in-one VR integrated device launched earlier, will be shipped nationwide and announces some of the latest configuration and system content for Vive Pro, a professional head-mounted display device From the promotion efforts is not difficult to see that these two products will be HTC Vive in 2018 to seize the market focus.
In Wang Congqing's conception, the above two new products, together with the original Vive series of VR heads, can basically meet the needs of users from low to high VR.
'In the past two years, we have the best time to take advantage of the fact that HTC Vive has the most complete product line, and at any price or user base, Vive offers the right solution for its customers.' .
At his motivation, the venue filled with an optimistic atmosphere.A HTC Vive's partners believe that this tasting will be more than the previous few more than expected.
Full reserve
In order to seize this trend, HTC Vive also hopes to do more.In addition to the introduction of two new products, they are feldspar from the software level, by providing richer VR content to capture users.
According to Wang Zhihua, vice president of Viveport, an HTC Vive content platform, more than 1,000 applications have been aggregated on the Viveport platform in 2017. The number is expected to increase by 50% in 2018 and will be more compatible with both Vive Focus and Vive Pro devices The content will also appear on Viveport.
Compared with other more mature hardware products, the content is the most lack of VR industry nowadays, which also makes high-quality VR content become more sought-after.titanium media have reported that the proportion of the initial pumping of Viveport reached 40%, follow-up and quietly change Back 30%, and then even implemented a zero-pumping quarterly test.To obtain content, the platform had to make none other.
This also gives Viveport special attention to get the hands of high-quality resources.In his speech, Wang Zhihua specifically mentioned the forthcoming Hollywood movie "Player 1." Earlier, HTC Vive has produced exclusive cooperation with the film producer Warner Bros., will be the movie Produce related VR content and publish it globally via Viveport.
In addition, HTC Vive also announced a partnership with Netease game produced the first VR game Netease games, "the dawn of the dragon," will be landing Viveport platform.
In this regard, IDC research manager Zheng Xi believes that the field of VR video, game market, there is still no small room for growth.
'Some VR devices have brought better and better viewing experience, which can bring a more intimate viewing experience to the user bedroom, etc. Overall, although the VR market may take some time, but the game And film and television opportunities are there. 'Cheng Xi told the news interface analysts said.
In addition, to create the VR hardware and software industry ecology, HTC Vive is also the focus of the layout of things in recent years.
To this end, they have launched the Vive X Accelerator program since April 2016 to nurture startup teams in the VR ecosystem. "So far we have launched Phase III and invested in more than 90 teams." Wang Congqing told Interface news reporter.
Vive X Accelerator in the world a total of four points: Beijing, Taipei, Shenzhen and Los Angeles, Taipei is considered the headquarters of HTC, Los Angeles is a big city near Silicon Valley, Beijing is the center of the Chinese mainland market.
As for Shenzhen, HTC Vive probably valued the hardware foundation of this 'China Silicon Valley.' Once upon a time, Huaqiangbei was filled with large and small VR headsets, providing ample VR equipment to surrounding industrial chain enterprises in a short period of time Components are not a problem, and for HTC Vive, it is imperative that you continue to supply at the supply chain to fully capture your product by 2018.
However, the layout of HTC Vive in Shenzhen goes far beyond these.
In November 2016, HTC signed a cooperation agreement with the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. The Shenzhen municipal government will support the formation of 'VR China Research Institute' by HTC, and both parties will jointly launch the 'Shenzhen VR Industry Fund' with a total size of 10 billion yuan.
In March 2017, HTC Vive announced that it will jointly establish an International Virtual Reality Research Institute with the Shenzhen Municipal Government to jointly promote the development of the VR industry.
Less than a year later, Wang Congqing once again announced another cooperation with the Shenzhen Municipal Government: the two sides co-founded a venture capital firm called "Shanghai Venture Capital Co., Ltd." The one-billion-yuan fund targeted the goal For the early AR, VR investment opportunities in the field of business.
Looked out, after experiencing a few years ago pave the way, in order to achieve the harvest as soon as the harvest season of VR, HTC Vive has been prepared.
Potential to repeat the same mistakes
The initial success of HTC's efforts, at least for now, has become one of the leaders in the VR market.
According to data released by Superdata, the Sony PlayStation VR sold more than 750,000 units in sales in 2016, taking the top spot in sales volume, followed by 420,000 units in the HTC Vive series and 240,000 in the Oculus Rift Taiwan three shipments accounted for 85% of the global VR market.
HTC Vive is still gradually established its own position in the VR high-end market.
But the worries still exist.
Since the launch of Vive, its VR product prices have not been called approachable.Original HTC Vive series is priced at $ 799, the national version of the price is 6888 yuan.
Although HTC cut the price of this model by 1,400 yuan to 5,488 yuan in August 2017, the adjusted price will still be higher than many of the flagship smartphones on the market. As for the launch in December 2017 Vive Focus, 3999 yuan pricing is not low.
Wang Congqing has its own set of rhetoric about the high pricing of products.He told Vive Focus as an example in a previous immersion experience day held in Beijing: Focus's configuration is the best of its kind Well, equipped with a processor is the leading Qualcomm Xiaolong 835, the same price of mobile phones equipped with this chip has more than 5,000 yuan.
But the problem is that a non-just-needed VR device can not be compared to a just-needed handset. High pricing makes it hard to awaken public demand.
Of course, for enthusiasts, the price of Vive series is not unacceptable.But enthusiasts are never the main force to maintain a company's survival, more or rely on the mass consumer market.
Taking the high-end route is also reminiscent of HTC's once-in-a-do strategy - a high-end strategy that has been proven unsupportable by the market.
HTC's market sensitivity is not enough. 'Market research firm Gartner analyst Lv Junkuan told the interface reporter.
In the early era of intelligent machines, HTC first fame in Europe and the United States market, excellent configuration and good market performance, making itself positioned as high-end international brands, and Apple, Samsung tied.
Soon, HTC replicated this strategy to include other areas, including the Chinese market, the sales of mobile phone products has become the first choice for many consumers .2011 HTC is considered the last peak, then the global share of 9.1%, sales The amount reached 43 million around in the US market, HTC beyond the decline of the cell phone giant Nokia.
However, with the rapid iteration of technology, the development of smart phone industry is also growing rapidly, and more and more mobile phone brands are starting to emerge, and the status of HTC continues to be hit.
The primary result is that HTC, which has always ranked itself as an international high-end brand, has not been able to form a brand appeal equivalent to that of Apple or Samsung, which has led to a gradual decline in the high-end market.
HTC frustrated after the high-end market, but also failed to find its position in the low-end mobile phone market.
'HTC's strength lies in the technology, weakness lies in channels and marketing, but the latter is the strength of OPPO, vivo and other brands where as to reduce costs or differentiation, nor is HTC good at.' Lv Jun wide said the lack of low-end development The market's genes make it impossible for HTC to compete with these brands on sales.
HTC could rely on its own high-end strategy to win the market when there were not many companies capable of doing cell phones in the early stages of smartphones, but as more and more companies entered the market, HTC's competitiveness began to diminish, He concluded to the interface news reporter.
It seems that HTC's VR business is going back to the old path of the handset business that year, at least in terms of the industrial environment. There are similarities: There are not many players in the industry and HTC takes the lead in taking the lead in the industry.
The risk of repeating the same mistakes still exist.
Ramon Llamas, IDC wearable device and handset research manager, once said HTC Vive is another high-end virtual reality brand in addition to Facebook Oculus VR and Sony PlayStation VR, provided no company in the market has any interest in getting into the high-end VR market Participate in competition.
HTC Vive executives do not agree with this.
'The (trend) should be the opposite, the difference between a VR device and a cellphone is that a cheap cellphone still performs its basic function, a cheap VR device will have a poor user experience,' said Wang Congqing, 'what really makes money It will be a high-end manufacturer. "
Bao Yongzhe, deputy general manager of the HTC virtual reality new technology department, stressed to the news reporter that the number of HTC Vive is different from that of the former mobile phone business line. 'This time we are not just starting from hardware but also doing software. Vive has Provide a rich software ecosystem, hoping to find new growth points.
Although it is still hard to say that HTC has taken the right direction, the management of the company is quite optimistic, at least in the early stage of the HTC Transformation VR, the market optimistic about its development prospects.
When the HTC Vive series started its global presale shortly after March 2016, its stock price showed a surge in stock prices. On March 15, HTC's stock hit an intraday high of 136.5 TWD per share Month ago up 70%.
Even large agencies have said they are optimistic about HTC's VR business.
In May 2016, Goldman Sachs said in a report that the VR / AR industry is expected to top $ 80 billion in output by 2025. Goldman believes that HTC Vive will become one of the leading VR platforms in the future and that HTC will be able to turn over the VR business.
Just after the initial fiery, HTC shares and the trend of the VR industry has converged decline.As of January 25, HTC's stock price of 69.2 NT per share, compared to 2016 when the highest point almost cut .
Reflected in the company's revenue, HTC's performance has not improved.
HTC released its third-quarter earnings report on November 10, 2017. The company posted a net loss of NT $ 3.1 billion in the quarter, marking the tenth consecutive quarterly loss for the company. On January 9 this year, HTC announced the 2017 full-year business Income data show that the company's total revenue for the year 62.22 billion NT, down 20.52%, the lowest level in 13 years.
This also shows that HTC's VR transformation is not smooth.
At the press conference, Wang Congqing admitted that it will take some time before VR devices become as popular as mobile phones.
'In my understanding, there are really 5 billion users of truly universal products.' He gave two examples: toothbrushes and cell phones, something that everybody had to touch every day. Obviously, VR devices did not reach this level .
Just like Goldman Sachs analysts, Wang Congqing has set his sights on the longer-term 2025. "It took 8-10 years for the phones to really become popular, and so did the VR devices." He believes that by 2025 VR will be able to achieve real popularize.
Of course, this is inseparable from the related technology support, such as 5 G. Gartner analyst Lv Junkuan told reporters on the interface, mobile phone and VR products are linked, both also rely on 5G technology outbreak with 5G technology, VR company Can provide users with low latency, high definition content, which will greatly expand the industry's development space.
Before that, Wang Congqing needed to ensure that the company could live up to that moment.
Responding to a question from the interface press about whether the VR business could boost HTC's performance, he said cautiously: 'This should go to the company's CFO.'
Indeed, Wang Congqing is not a financial expert, but he really needs to turn the VR business into a dead-end HTC to improve performance last "lifebuoy."