Can we stop pretending HTC has a future in VR?

HTC gets all the branding credit, but Valve is the driving force behind the Vive.

Read the whole story

 

[Zak]

That's a little harsh, even if it's true. I'm not a fan of HTC, never owned anything made by them, but I would hate to see them go. They made some decent smartphones, they just could not hold their weight against the 800lbs gorillas of this world. I'd hate to see a world where everything is made by five companies and all others are gone.I hope HTC can stay relevant.

 

[infected]

Did a HTC marketing guy piss in your cheerios this morning?

 

[Philippe23]

This piece seems to be missing an "OPINION" tag.

I think comparing Oculus's launch to the Vive's launch can show how much better Oculus could have done with a first-order hardware production partner.

We all know Oculus has motion controllers, if they had someone else making sure hardware was ready for shipping at launch, Oculus might have been the clear winner a few months back.

Instead, look at how Valve could focus on the software and leave the hardware to HTC. For that Vive got to be a lot more advanced in terms of motion controls, tracking, & room scale.

 

[Mackynz]

Can we stop pretending to know if HTC has a future in VR?

 

[tipsy.trex]

In more than a year but less than two, valve is going to buy HTC Vive Tech. Anyone wanna take bets on how much they'll spend?

 

[DarkSkyForever]

Maybe Valve will acquire the subsidiary that HTC spun off?

Edit: Ninja'ed!

 

[infected]

tipsy.trex[/url]":2xv1yhxb]In more than a year but less than two, valve is going to buy HTC Vive Tech. Anyone wanna take bets on how much they'll spend?

 

[theoilman]

Zak[/url]":2i2jydjo]That's a little harsh, even if it's true. I'm not a fan of HTC, never owned anything made by them, but I would hate to see them go. They made some decent smartphones, they just could not hold their weight against the 800lbs gorillas of this world. I'd hate to see a world where everything is made by five companies and all others are gone.I hope HTC can stay relevant.

Everyone who made HTC innovative in the old days has long since quit and moved to other companies where they continue to be innovative. I don't get the blind nostalgia for their brand name when the company is a shell of what it was.

 

[0tim0]

Maybe they are splitting it off to make it easier for Valve to buy it?

 

[chatila]

tipsy.trex[/url]":2vf568lu]In more than a year but less than two, valve is going to buy HTC Vive Tech. Anyone wanna take bets on how much they'll spend?

I bet 100$ that they will spend 50$.

Honestly, I think this article is spot on and puts into words what I've been thinking since all these devices were even rumored.

HTC have passion, and incredible design. They also fail at the one-dimensional metrics that pay the bills (regardless of whether or not they're meaningful/just/accurate).

Since this isn't likely to be the same type of market as smartphones; it's most likely going to be a niche market for a long time. Maybe HTC will still be able to command a significant piece of it after some time. Mass production and marketing, in this market, isn't as important as convention and consumers being used to a product line, I imagine (compared to the smartphone market).

 

[yeahreally]

I am sure that HTC is shopping around for buyers for HTC Vive Tech. Sony and Samsung have their own VR tech going on. Microsoft is partnering with Occulus. Most gaming hardware companies don't have the money to do an acquisition like this. So I'd have to put my money on Google or Valve buying them.

 

[Lee Vann]

tipsy.trex[/url]":3vc9rorh]In more than a year but less than two, valve is going to buy HTC Vive Tech. Anyone wanna take bets on how much they'll spend?

I think it is more likely that HTC Vive Tech gets a name change to lose the HTC branding. And some investors buy into it so it is no longer a wholly owned subsidiary. This will give HTC a nice fat infusion of cash, and still allow them to their hand in the VR game.

 

[DarkSkyForever]

yeahreally[/url]":1b888i79]I am sure that HTC is shopping around for buyers for HTC Vive Tech. Sony and Samsung have their own VR tech going on. Microsoft is partnering with Occulus. Most gaming hardware companies don't have the money to do an acquisition like this. So I'd have to put my money on Google or Valve buying them.

Google has a number of VR projects already, I'm not sure why they'd want to buy Vive Tech unless it's for an acquire-hire.

 

[NTripleOne]

Philippe23[/url]":2l1o9fq6]We all know Oculus has motion controllers, if they had someone else making sure hardware was ready for shipping at launch, Oculus might have been the clear winner a few months back.

I very much doubt that, what with how Oculus seem to keep just putting all their chips on "EXCLUSIVITY DEALS" and ignoring the fact that nobody wants that and is actively harming the industry.

 

[geniekid]

If HTC Vive Tech turns out to be the Foxconn of the VR world, I'd call that a win from a business perspective.

 

[Blinken]

mfw your choices are either a pillar of the company or destined to be spun off.

 

[solomonrex]

A lot of this is true, but I feel it's unfair to compare HTC to Sony/Apple. EVERYONE else in hardware partners with software experts, and those companies - google and MS - specify the hardware more and more.

So, yes, HTC is having a little irrational exuberance over their VR success, the article is right. But it goes too far. Lots of successful hardware companies bring little more than competent engineering and sourcing and reliable components - and those are important things! Look at Apple's recent success!

The iphone hardware team has done even less this year, and their hot takes are relatively lukewarm.

So, yes, it's a fair take but feels a bit unfair.

 

[Zak]

geniekid[/url]":18isdheg]If HTC Vive Tech turns out to be the Foxconn of the VR world, I'd call that a win from a business perspective.

Exactly, Foxconn seems to be doing just fine behind scenes. Not having your company name in the news every morning is not the metrics of success.

 

[Faustus Scaevola]

HTC's primary advantage in the VR market is its relationship with Valve. HTC doesn't own the technology, platform, or software it is currently celebrating, so what will happen to the company if Valve decides to step back from the hardware business or do business with one of HTC's competitors?

Except that earlier in your article you mention that Valve doesn’t want to keep the technology to itself, so HTC will be able to continue using it even if Valve decides to play ball with other manufacturers.

 

[Zacpod]

I don't get why HTC doesn't do better in the phone market.
The M8 and M9 are 2 of the best phones I've ever used.
Blinkfeed is great. (Hard to put in to words how great, but if I ever get another non-HTC phone one of the first things I do will be hack Blinkfeed on to it...)
The hardware feels like quality in the hand. Nice and solid.
The interface mods are minor, and well thought out.
Oh, and the thing is as easy to hack on as a nexus, and near impossible to brick, too.

Compared to Samsung's plastic crap, and cartoonish android mods, HTC is miles beyond.

But I guess, as a culture, we like plastic crap. :s

 

[Nerdgoggles]

*sigh*

Ars Opiniona strikes again.

 

[krimhorn]

SteamVR is the equivalent of Android. Valve's goal with it is to enable everyone who wants to create hardware to do so. They've made available an open HDK for SteamVR and a good portion of the foundation of SteamVR is OSVR (and they've contributed back to it).

Besides, HTC doesn't make the stuff inside the headset so they have no future in it? Tell that to Dell who doesn't make the tech inside their monitors/computers. Tell that to Asus who doesn't make the tech inside their monitors/computers. Tell that to Apple who doesn't make a good portion of the tech inside their monitors/computers. Tell that to Sony who doesn't make a good portion of the tech inside their computers/consoles/phones/etc.

Now HTC may not have a future in VR as they may be Samsung'd by someone else. But the reasons laid out in the article are pants on head stupid reasons why that would be.

 

[Coriolanus]

Zacpod[/url]":30esffby]I don't get why HTC doesn't do better in the phone market.
The M8 and M9 are 2 of the best phones I've ever used.
Blinkfeed is great. (Hard to put in to words how great, but if I ever get another non-HTC phone one of the first things I do will be hack Blinkfeed on to it...)
The hardware feels like quality in the hand. Nice and solid.
The interface mods are minor, and well thought out.
Oh, and the thing is as easy to hack on as a nexus, and near impossible to brick, too.

Compared to Samsung's plastic crap, and cartoonish android mods, HTC is miles beyond.

But I guess, as a culture, we like plastic crap. :s

I feel like part of it is because the only people who think of HTC phones tend to be people like ArsTechnica readers. I so rarely see people recommend it to friends or relatives. The first name that comes to mind for most people when it comes to phones is either Apple or Samsung. LG, Motorola and other smaller Android OEMs suffer from the same effect, I think.

 

[Deleted member 192806]

Valve probably kept its name off of the HTC Vive to avoid being seen as playing favorites and to send a message that Steam VR is a place for any hardware manufacturer that wants to compete.

Hardware takes a greater commitment, and getting higher margins is harder, than say software.

 

[Shlazzargh]

Honestly, I still think the big elephant in the room is not whether HTC will be thriving in a couple years... I'm still not convinced that VR itself is going to be a big thing in a few years. Yeah, sure there is much sound and fury and pretty lights now, but I have yet to see anything that makes me thInk strap-a-monitor-to-your-face VR is going to be more than a tiny niche.
If VR does not move into a bigger mainstream, then Valve might not find any partners other than HTC anyway for building VR systems so it won't matter who owns the tech and IP.

 

[sembias]

This is amazingly short-sighted for this website. And incredibly American-market biased.

What, exactly, is the Valve presence in China? How man Rifts are being sold in Asia?

HTC is looking at the Asian market, specifically China. They have a large contract with a Chinese Net Cafe company - over 100,000 location potential there - and are aggressively moving into the high-end market there. Which is potentially enormous. THAT is what HTC is getting out this partnership. THAT is why there is a Vive VR store and VR Space. People in the West will use Steam, sure, but there are 10's of millions of customers that can't access Steam at all. And that is where HTC is putting their focus.

I'm a little disappointed, Ron. You can do better.

 

[theoilman]

Shlazzargh[/url]":ksm8y0tt]Honestly, I still think the big elephant in the room is not whether HTC will be thriving in a couple years... I'm still not convinced that VR itself is going to be a big thing in a few years. Yeah, sure there is much sound and fury and pretty lights now, but I have yet to see anything that makes me thInk strap-a-monitor-to-your-face VR is going to be more than a tiny niche.
If VR does not move into a bigger mainstream, then Valve might not find any partners other than HTC anyway for building VR systems so it won't matter who owns the tech and IP.

I think within 5 years vr has a good chance in an arcade setting. Not for home use though.

 

[nagi]

Can we stop pretending FoxConn has a future in mobile phones? Just because they manufacture iPhones everything doesn't mean a thing.

/s

 

[Stone]

I get why people like HTC, but Ron supported all his claims with plenty of evidence. HTC is in a position where almost anyone with industrial design experience can step in and take over.

Hell, someone like Xiaomi could step in, release a similar headset for $300, and absolutely clean house on the VR market. As Ron pointed out, HTC is holding none of the cards in this game.

 

[zee_jay]

This article doesn't seem to understand the business side. Comparing this to "Foxconn iPhone" is goofy because Apple is paying Foxconn inconceivably large sums of money (up-front, even) to build millions of units, which Apple then owns, for better or worse. Foxconn is getting paid, no matter how poorly or how well the iPhone performs in the market.

And therein lies the difference. HTC is carrying a shit-ton of risk in this deal. And the reason they are doing this is to (hopefully) make money *and* build value in its brand as a leader in the VR hardware space. If Valve was funding manufacturing, owning inventory, doing hardware tech support, running retail channel relationships, etc., it'd be their logo stamped on the box.

 

[Deleted member 192806]

Shlazzargh[/url]":1d2we05x]Honestly, I still think the big elephant in the room is not whether HTC will be thriving in a couple years... I'm still not convinced that VR itself is going to be a big thing in a few years. Yeah, sure there is much sound and fury and pretty lights now, but I have yet to see anything that makes me thInk strap-a-monitor-to-your-face VR is going to be more than a tiny niche.
If VR does not move into a bigger mainstream, then Valve might not find any partners other than HTC anyway for building VR systems so it won't matter who owns the tech and IP.

Problem is people are using version 1.0 tea leaves to read what the future holds.

Version 1.0:

The future few foresaw:

 

[kovach]

theoilman[/url]":2ylb7w7c]

Shlazzargh[/url]":2ylb7w7c]Honestly, I still think the big elephant in the room is not whether HTC will be thriving in a couple years... I'm still not convinced that VR itself is going to be a big thing in a few years. Yeah, sure there is much sound and fury and pretty lights now, but I have yet to see anything that makes me thInk strap-a-monitor-to-your-face VR is going to be more than a tiny niche.

I think within 5 years vr has a good chance in an arcade setting. Not for home use though.

Please play Battle Dome for the Vive, and then tell me that there is no future for VR in the home.
Just don't look at the screenshots, actually play it somewhere there's a Vive. The gameplay is unique, brilliant and it really is the killer app for home room-scale VR.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Nerdgoggles[/url]":256oxaho]*sigh*

Ars Opiniona strikes again.

Treating others opinions as "pretending" is a worthless construction that kills dialog before it can begin.

 

[Fatesrider]

Lee Vann[/url]":3e34oh6v]

tipsy.trex[/url]":3e34oh6v]In more than a year but less than two, valve is going to buy HTC Vive Tech. Anyone wanna take bets on how much they'll spend?

I think it is more likely that HTC Vive Tech gets a name change to lose the HTC branding. And some investors buy into it so it is no longer a wholly owned subsidiary. This will give HTC a nice fat infusion of cash, and still allow them to their hand in the VR game.

No, the subsidiary is branding only. It's wholly separate from HTC and no one is going to buy it without putting their OWN brand on it, and taking all of the profits.

Not sure how HTC could possibly benefit from that other than as a footnote in Wikipedia about the origin of the (New Brand Name) Vive.

Valve Vive comes to mind...

OTOH, HTC may have positioned themselves to be acquired by the Vive Tech company, dump the Smartphone branch, downsize, and put their efforts into VR without the embarrassment of going bankrupt.

 

[WaveRunner]

I would have thought the exact opposite. I would expect Microsoft to already be working on DirectVR as a standard for both Windows 10 and Xbox One. At that point the manufacturers would be writing their own drivers to work with DirectVR. Once DirectVR gets all the information resolution, FOV, etc it would then feed that into a common engine like Unreal 4.

That way you could see HTC, Samsung, or even Sony manufacture a "VR Monitor" and cut Oculus, Steam, and any other smaller companies completely out of the equation.

 

[DiavoJinx]

This article's title is clickbait-y. Shame on you, Ars.
I clicked on it to read this article linked from Reddit in a huff of "WTF why is Ars Technica slamming the Vive?!"
-_-

 

[melgross]

nagi[/url]":ymzy09sm]Can we stop pretending FoxConn has a future in mobile phones? Just because they manufacture iPhones everything doesn't mean a thing.

/s

Remember that HTC also began as a contract manufacturer. Then they began to design the phones for OEMs. Then, they came out with their own brand.

Foxconn started out as a contract manufacturer, now they also design phones for many companies. What's to say that they can't come out with their own phone? That doesn't mean they'd need to leave their other businesses. And Foxconn is a highly successful, very large company, with many large customers. HTC is not.

 

[infected]

kovach[/url]"d1q8v0p]

theoilman[/url]"d1q8v0p]

Shlazzargh[/url]"d1q8v0p]Honestly, I still think the big elephant in the room is not whether HTC will be thriving in a couple years... I'm still not convinced that VR itself is going to be a big thing in a few years. Yeah, sure there is much sound and fury and pretty lights now, but I have yet to see anything that makes me thInk strap-a-monitor-to-your-face VR is going to be more than a tiny niche.

I think within 5 years vr has a good chance in an arcade setting. Not for home use though.

Please play Battle Dome for the Vive, and then tell me that there is no future for VR in the home.
Just don't look at the screenshots, actually play it somewhere there's a Vive. The gameplay is unique, brilliant and it really is the killer app for home room-scale VR.

I haven't had a proper experience of it myself yet, but the reactions I have seen from others using it are pretty exciting.

I've seen a guy try to run up an invisible wall and drop like a bag of the proverbial after his kid ran into him while he was playing one. I've seen shreiking teenage girl after girl come out of the area in tears from the frights.

My favourite up to now is the big burly tattooed bouncer looking skin head guy grabbing at the ankles of his just as large friends after he dropped to the floor screaming like a kid to "TURN IT OOOOFFFF" [i think he was on a roller coaster]