Google to buy part of smartphone maker HTC for $1.1 billion: Taiwan firm

Yahoo – AFP, 21 September 2017

Taiwan's struggling smartphone maker HTC is selling part of its smartphone
business to US technology giant Google

Taiwan's struggling smartphone maker HTC said Thursday it was selling part of its smartphone business to US technology giant Google for $1.1 billion.

The deal includes intellectual property licensing and half of its research staff, or around 2,000 people, and is expected to be completed in early 2018 pending regulatory approval, HTC said.

"For Google, the deal will further strengthen its investment in and committment to smartphones and its hardware business... it shows that Google sees Taiwan as a key hub for innovative technology," HTC spokesman Peter Shen told a press conference in Taipei.

He declined to give further details about the deal but stressed that HTC would continue to develop and sell smartphones under its own brand.

HTC mum on alleged partnership with Israeli VR startup Replay

Want China Times, CNA 2015-07-14

Cher Wang speaks at an event at HTC's headquarters in Taoyuan, June 6.
(Photo courtesy of HTC)

HTC declined to comment Monday on a report that the Taiwanese smartphone maker is hoping to work with an Israel-based startup to provide virtual reality technology.

Local magazine Business Next reported on Saturday that HTC chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang had planned to visit Replay Technologies in early June, but was forced to cancel the plan because she needed to address HTC's tumbling share price.

The report said Wang canceled the plan in an e-mail to the Israeli company, citing Replay co-founder and CEO Oren Haimovitch-Yogev.

Wang's secret visit was aimed at teaming up with Replay for new technologies used in the HTC Vive — a virtual reality headset developed jointly with US video game supplier Valve, which is expected to hit the consumer market in the second half of this year, the report said.

In response to the report, HTC told CNA on Monday that it does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Replay has developed a new video format called "freeD," or free dimensional video, which works by capturing reality as a true three-dimensional scene, comprised of three-dimensional pixels that faithfully represent reality, rather than as a flat 2D image.

This information is stored in a freeD database and can be accessed to create any desired viewing angle from the multi-dimensional information, the three-year-old startup said.

The freeD technology has been used in instant replays at major sports events, including the 2012 Olympic Games, NBA All-Star Games, MLB games and the Super Bowl.

Replay has formed partnerships with Samsung Electronics, Sony and Microsoft.

HTC's Cher Wang to give 100,000 tablets to women in Asia-Pacific

Want China Times, CNA 2013-04-21

HTC chairwoman Cher Wang. (Photo/Chen Chih-yuan)

HTC chairwoman Cher Wang announced an initiative at a World Bank roundtable on Thursday to donate 100,000 HTC tablets to young women in Asia-Pacific countries.

"My commitment is to give HTC tablets to 100,000 young women in the Asia-Pacific region to empower them to define a greater role for themselves," Wang said at the discussion on the Equal Futures Partnership, which is dedicated to promoting women's rights.

Tablets have equipped a very powerful learning platform that emphasizes science and technology, she said.

"I strongly believe there should be a much greater role in technology for women, not only as users but also as innovators, business owners and industry leaders," Wang said.

Noting that technology has revolutionized the way people live and will continue to bring prosperity to the world, Wang said she was also very excited by the greater access to education brought by technology.

"Technology has created a powerful learning platform... connected mobile devices can now bring the best teachers in the world to anyone anywhere," Wang said.

Wang said she believed that if the potential of hundreds of millions of women who are now denied quality education or any education of any kind could be harnessed, the world would be much better off.

She also recalled founding HTC to create a computer so small that it could be carried in a pocket and said she was now setting her sights elsewhere.

"The dream has come true and now my next dream is to make the world a more equal place for women," Wang said.

Citing a Chinese philosopher, Wang said a journey of 1,000 miles must begin with a single step. "My hope is that those young women (who get HTC tablets) will be empowered to define a greater role for themselves and millions more will be empowered to the path of a more prosperous future," Wang said.

HTC, Taiwan's leading smartphone maker, was the only Asian private business invited to attend the forum sponsored by the World Bank at its headquarters in Washington DC.

Most of the other participants represented Equal Futures Partnership member countries, including Denmark, Mexico, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Croatia, Norway and Benin.

The roundtable focused on how to expand economic opportunities and political participation for women and girls in Equal Futures Partnership member countries.

Wang's commitment to donating tablets drew applause from other participants at the meeting, including World Bank chairman Jim Yong Kim, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and senior officials and financial experts from many other countries.

Wang, who concurrently serves as chairwoman of the ABAC Women's Forum, said it was the first time she had been invited to attend a forum held by the World Bank.

Given its diplomatic isolation, Taiwan should take part in as many international activities as possible, she said.

A booth displaying HTC's new products, including smartphones and tablets, was set up at the World Bank roundtable venue, drawing many visitors.

Wang has also been invited to attend an Equal Futures Partnership- related roundtable discussion to be held at the White House on Friday.

Samsung probed in Taiwan over 'fake web reviews'

BBC News, 16 April 2013

Related Stories

• Samsung unveils biggest smartphone
• China vows to protect foreign firms
• What happened to Japan's electronic giants?

Bad reviews of HTC products were
 allegedly posted by students paid by
Samsung

Fair-trade officials in Taiwan are looking into reports that Samsung paid people to criticise rival HTC online.

Samsung is alleged to have hired students to post negative comments about phones made by Taiwan's HTC.

Samsung, based in South Korea, said the "unfortunate incident" had gone against the company's "fundamental principles".

If found guilty of engaging in "false advertising", Samsung and its local agent could face fines of up to of 25m Taiwanese dollars (£547,000).

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission had begun an investigation after receiving a series of complaints, a spokesman told the AFP news agency.

A local website had published documents appearing to show Samsung had been recruiting students to criticise HTC and praise Samsung anonymously on the web, reported PC Advisor.

Samsung Taiwan said it had not been told about the investigation, however the subsidiary put a statement on its local Facebook page saying it had "ceased all marketing activities that involve the posting of anonymous comments".

It said all future marketing work would be more in line with its company philosophy of transparency and honesty.

"The recent incident was unfortunate, and occurred due to insufficient understanding of these fundamental principles," it said, adding that it was planning training for employees to ensure events were not repeated.

In early 2013, Samsung was fined by Taiwanese authorities for an advert that misled consumers about the camera on the Galaxy Y Duo.

Samsung Unveils New Champion in Smartphone War

Jakarta Globe, Sophie Estienne, March 15, 2013

A visitor checks out Samsung's new Galaxy S4 during its unveiling in
New York, on March 14, 2013 

       

Related articles

• Samsung Making Indonesia Key Electronics Market, Executive Says
• 'Phablet' Mania Hits World Mobile Congress
• Apple And Samsung, Frenemies for Life
• Samsung Profit Beats Estimates as Galaxy Fends Off IPhone
• Samsung Sells 30M Galaxy S III Smartphones

Samsung unveiled a slim, feature-rich Galaxy S4 as its new champion to take on Apple in the fiercely competitive smartphone arena.

The South Korean consumer electronics giant introduced the Galaxy S4 on the stage of New York City's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday and said the smartphones would roll out in 155 countries in late April. Pricing was not disclosed.

"For each of us, life is a journey," said Samsung mobile communications division head, JK Shin.

"What we want is a device that can join us on that journey; a companion that helps us experience life in the fullest."

S4 features include a high-definition, five-inch (12.7-centimeter) screen, enhanced picture-taking capabilities and the capacity to translate to and from nine languages.

"It is now clearly Samsung's flagship device; jam-packed with technology," said Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg.

"The question is how many of these features will resonate with consumers."

Samsung played up its online hub for music, books, and video and the ease with which the S4 can share video with televisions made by the company.

"At this point, smartphones are all about software and ecosystems; showing up with compelling hardware is the expected starting point," Gartenberg said.

"This is about a Samsung ecosystem that happens to be built on Android."

Samsung is the biggest and most successful maker of smartphones powered by Android software that Google makes available for free.

Samsung has become the top smartphone maker worldwide with a 29 percent market share, according to IDC, while in the US market Apple remains the king and sells more than one of every three mobile phones.

The Galaxy S3 has sold more than 40 million worldwide since its launch last May and has some analysts debating which of the two firms is ahead in innovation.

"We are always listening to learn from people around the world about what kind of progress they really want," Shin said.

Samsung stressed innovation as it continues to defend itself against charges made by Apple in public and in lawsuits that the South Korean rival has copied the California company's creations.

The S4 is thinner than its predecessor and weighs just 130 grams despite having a bigger screen and battery.

The smartphone also boasts a "dual camera" function that lets the front and rear-facing cameras be used simultaneously for pictures or videos that combine images of subjects with that of the photographer.

A Group Play function lets S4 handsets close to one another share music, photos, documents or games, or even work in unison as a sound system for a song.

An S Translator feature lets people speak or enter text in one tongue and have it instantly converted to another.

Sensors in the S4 detect when a person looks away from a video and then pauses play until the distraction has passed and eyes are once again directed at the screen.

S4 sensors combined with S Health software enable handsets to be used to track exercise, eating, heart rate and other fitness factors.

The handsets were also designed to measure temperature and humidity to help people "understand what is going on around them."

Samsung also took aim at the trend of people using their own smartphones for work with the addition of new Knox software that builds a secure wall between personal and business data on handsets.

"The Samsung Galaxy S4 is very good, but looks like an evolution to the S3, not a revolution," said technology analyst Jeff Kagan.

Apple, which is known for keeping its plans private, is believed to be working on its own upgrades, including a new version of the iconic iPhone. But Apple shares have slumped some 40 percent from highs hit last year.

Agence France-Presse

Related Article:

HTC official shrugs off Galaxy S4 challenge

Is Kim Jong-Un using an iPhone? North Korean leader spotted with mystery smartphone

Daily Mail, Richard Shears, 5 February 2013

• Phone beside Kim's elbow as he presided over meeting can't be defined
• South Korean phone maker Samsung said it wasn't one of their own
• It could be an HTC from Taiwan or a Sony from Japan

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been photographed with a smartphone beside him during a meeting – but who made it?

The mystery of what make of smartphone the ruler of one of the world's most secretive countries favours has sparked international controversy not only among geeks but the average person in the Western street.

Is it an Apple iPhone? An HTC from Taiwan? A Sony from Japan? Surely not a Samsung from South Korea, the enemy across the border?

This picture of North Korea's Kim Jong-Un with a smartphone has
triggered fevered speculation about which brand is favoured by the leader
of one of the world's most repressive nations. The device is to his right, next
to apile of papers, but it is not clear what make it is.

'I regret to say that I don't think Kim would be seen dead with a Samsung,' said a technician in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

The dark phone seen beside Kim's elbow as he presided over a meeting with top national security advisers last week is at such an angle that its make cannot be defined.

But experts are agreed that it is definitely a smartphone, revealing that if it does actually belong to Kim he is keeping up with modern technology.

More...

• Even a North Korean dictator needs a cigarette break! Kim Jong-un stops off 'for smoke in HOSPITAL
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'It's believed that the smartphone seen in the picture belongs to Kim, given that the device was placed right next to the documents he was looking at,' said a Seoul government official.

South's Korea's media has given the picture – issued by North Korea's state media – prominent coverage, along with a discussion about the possible manufacturer.

Samsung was 99 per cent sure it wasn't one of theirs. 'It looks more like an HTC model,' said a spokesman for the company whose Galaxy SIII phone is now outselling the iPhone.

Which one? Experts have speculated whether Kim Jong-Un was pictured with
 an Apple iPhone (left) or an HTC from Taiwan. Samsung was 99 per cent sure
it wasn't one of their own models

The enemy: South Korean technology giant Samsung has said it is sure the
smartphone is not one of their own

Secretive: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds before giving s public
 speech during a massive celebration marking the 100th birthday of national
founder Kim Il Sung

This picture from January 27 shows the North Korean leader attending a
consultative  meeting with officials in the fields of state security and foreign
affairs at undisclosed location in North Korea

South Korea's intelligence agents have carefully inspected the photo and they have also concluded that the Taiwanese firm was the likely manufacturer.

So what does HTC have to say about the phone?

'We aren't going to get into a discussion about the device but we do appreciate the support of all users,' the Taiwanese company said in a statement.

Apart from highly-placed officials, about one million people in North Korea own mobile phones, which were introduced into the country in 2008 through a joint venture with the Egyptian telecom Orascom.

However, they can only phone each other and not make international calls. In addition phones available to the public cannot access the internet.

But it is believed Kim and his close associates are able to get online to the outside world.

'Kim and his family members as well as the North's political elite appear to use smartphones or other mobile phones capable of accessing the internet,' said a Seoul government official.

Foreign visitors entering North Korea are now allowed to bring their mobile phones into the country, but they have to purchase a local SIM card that allows them to make international calls but prevents them connecting to local people.

Related Articles:

Foreigners can now take own phones to N. Korea: Xinhua


"THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version) - New

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version) 

“… 8. ... North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning. …”

A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”