Greg Kumparak — editor of MobileCrunch.com, the mobile industry blog TechCrunch network. Greg writing for TechCrunch network since May 2008. Greg was born in the vicinity of San Jose, California and currently lives in East Bay. ? Read More
Late in the evening, HTC announced that they have a "major Announcement news» share this morning.
With HTC, making some of the best smartphones we've ever seen (like lightning, 7 Pro and original Android device, the G1) anything they consider "basic information", probably worth tuning.
In such a way that they could declare? Thanks to some leak late at night, we have a very good idea is to find the details, along with our live notes HTC teleconference, below.
Refresh the page to update the notes.
8: 26 am: Now I'm waiting for the call. The call is scheduled to begin at 8: 30 am Pacific.
8: 27 am: based on some news that broke late in the evening, we expect the HTC officially announce that they have formed a strategic partnership with Beats electronics, makers of the Beats by Dr. Dre. It is likely that HTC will announce that they have acquired a majority stake in the line of the beats with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.
8: 31 am: still on hold. This is probably the smoothest of smooth jazz, I've ever heard.
8: 35 am: 5 minutes later, we're jammin' on some sultry Jazz tunes. Pretty sure HTC forgot about us here.
8: 37 am: to be clear, it is expected that the challenge of today's newspapers have not been cancelled due to the bits of news breaking last night. HTC has confirmed all last night that the call will continue, with additional information are discussed.
8: 38 am: here we go! They brought us into the call. Peter Chou (Director HTC) and Jimmy Iovine beats generates the call.
8: 39 am: Peter Chou: we are very pleased to announce this partnership. We plan to bring to the phones "Studio quality" sound.
8: 40 am: "The quality of design has always been a very high priority for HTC. When we met with the beats, we were very impressed with their knowledge and technologies in the field of music. Team beats really understands music and truly understands the music experience. "
8: 41 am: "With this strategy, with this investment, we can bring the best people on both sides to make very deep integration technology beats in software and hardware. This is a great opportunity to take the mobile experience to the next step. Mobile phones, smart phones is very powerful. This makes it easier than ever to enjoy everywhere … but the sound quality is not proved yet. This is an opportunity for us to provide high quality sound "
8: 42 am: Yes — so far, no new details. Just a lot of talk about how awesome is partnership.
8: 43 am: currently calling Jimmy Iovine
8: 44 am: "When you write, millions of dollars spent on getting this emotion in music. When you then take it and put it on CD and MP3, you lose this emotion. [Of those MP3 files and bad earbuds] we lost about 2 generation sound. "
8: 45 am: according to Jimmy Iovine beats HTC went to ask them to invest.
8: 46 am: Iovine: "why Apple works so well is because they have a head. That Steve jobs is doing, the company follows. I found that here with Peter. "
8: 47 am: we are on the Q&A.
8: 48 am: "What will this do to my phone? Consumers really looking for sound quality? " Jimmy Iovine: when we started beats, people told us, "nobody cares about sound. 3 years and 8 million headphones later we fully entered the headphone sales from 12 to 20 years. We brought them to culture, but he made them realize that quality issues. You'll find that in the next few months, all telephone companies to update their sound quality. HTC will be the first. Peter: this partnership is based on the fact that the amazing sound is the key to an amazing mobile experience.
8: 51 am: will these headphones sold with phones or tech built into the phone? , Peter: is not only purely tube, it's going to be a holistic experience. We see an opportunity that we can create a much more interesting innovations in the market. [Do Not ... truly answer the question.]
8: 52 am: "Why do you invest in the beats, and not just license?" , Peter: we believe the establishment of innovation, we need to have two companies work together day and night.
8: 53 am: can you confirm that this $ 300 million investment? , Peter: Yes. This $ 300 million investment.
8: 54 am: by Jimmy Iovine for the size of investments: valuation, we came up with here. was in March. Since then beats sales have doubled, but we kept the same price [because we like HTC]. We, as in the music industry, should get the phones. This makes it so.
8: 58 am: that, in any case, this partnership makes to your relationship with HTC? Jimmy: I talked with Todd [Bradley] and he was thrilled for us. This is in the best interest of the HPS continue to build brand, and our goal is to fix the sound around the world, but we'll have an exclusive relationship with HTC phones. (Sounds like the beats will continue to work with HP and other brands in computers, but will work closely with HTC phones)
Aaaand, they just ended the call. The main interesting bits here: HTC has confirmed that the investment, in fact, the $ 300 million for 51% of the shares, while Jimmy Iovine has shown that this assessment was built back in March and that beats tech phones will likely be exclusive for HTC. Thanks for tuning in!
HTC Corp. (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running Android and Windows Mobile for yourself and as OEM for other manufacturers. Since the beginning of your own brand.
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