Has HTC Forgot About Dre?
Summary
So that should give Peter Chou, HTC’s chief executive officer, the final say on whether Beats should buy online music service MOG. With Apple and Samsung Electronics so dominant, Google buying Motorola, and ZTE, Huawei, and other Chinese companies promoting inexpensive smartphones, HTC is getting squeezed from all ends. The company “closed [the year] at a much slower pace than we would have liked,” concedes Jason Mackenzie, president of global sales and marketing. “We kind of let the portfolio get away from us, trying to do too many products in a short period of time.” Adding sound technology from Beats should help HTC stand out from the pack of Android makers trying to keep pace with Apple, Chou hopes. “Your music will have awesome hi-fi quality.” In addition to Beats, Chou has been making a string of investments in U.S. and European software and content startups in an effort to diversify the Taiwanese company away from its roots as a gadget manufacturer.