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from the alphabet-is-gonna-be-in-everything-from-a-to-z dept.
A report from a Taiwanese news outlet called Commercial Times says Google is in the final stages of acquiring all or part of smartphone maker HTC.
The news follows a separate story from late August that suggested Taiwan-based HTC was interested in some sort of sale.
HTC, once one of the more popular smartphone makers in the United States, has fallen off of most carrier store shelves after several consecutive unsuccessful smartphone launches. It recently launched a separate division that sells virtual reality headsets.
The report seems fishy, since Google has already been down this road, but there's a reason why Google might be interested in HTC.
The Taiwanese company builds the Google Pixel, which means it could be a good fit for Google as it continues to cater to consumers with its "Pixel" smartphone brand.
In the end, there can be only one.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/google-buying-htc-report-says.html
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Monday September 11 2017, @01:43AM
That's mostly, but not entirely, true. I can personally verify that the unlocking procedures provided at the link above were *not* valid for Verizon phones. Apparently, some network providers were and are still gigantic assholes and required HTC to deny unlocking directly to their phones.
That said, HTC at least provided this functionality for some (most?) of their customers. However, they, like other phone manufacturers aren't so keen on providing their own, or encouraging third party, software upgrades. [soylentnews.org]. I suppose that, from a new phone sales perspective, that makes some sense. But a customer who bought two phones from them won't be purchasing a third. Instead, I'll be buying a phone from a manufacturer who shares API access to custom hardware/firmware with third-party developers.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr