Asustek Computer Inc, the Taiwan-based company known widely as Asus, appears to be doing some window shopping—and it's eyeing fellow Taiwanese tech maker HTC, a Reuters story reports.
The short article's careful wording stops short of declaring the former's intentions, stating that "[Asus] has not ruled out the possibility of acquiring struggling smartphone maker HTC Corp." Reuters attributes the comment to Asustek Chairman Johnny Shih, who fielded questions about the topic at his company's annual general meeting.
Interest in the matter would have barely registered this time last year. HTC has gained a reputation as a maker of very decent phones that somehow fail to garner sales. But a few months ago, the underdog just made its biggest and boldest play yet with its new virtual reality headset, the Vive.
See also: Oculus Will Let You Grab Virtual Reality With Both Hands
The Prospect Of A Re…Vive
By and large, the Vive virtual reality system (a joint project with gaming giant Valve) surprised the industry by offering what has been hailed as the best consumer VR experience yet.
The announcement pulled the rug out from underneath companies like Oculus and Sony, particularly since HTC promised to deliver a consumer version of the headset by the end of this year. Both the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus VR goggles won’t be available until 2016.
An Asus-made Vive could accelerate interest even further. After all, plenty of signs point to this potentially being a great match.
See also: Google Jump Will Revolutionize Making Virtual-Reality Experiences
Asus may be best known to consumers for its Eee series devices, Padfones, Zenbooks, and ZenWatch smartwatch, but it makes all sorts of hardware. Its product lines include computers, mobile devices, networking equipment, motherboards, optical storage, multimedia products and servers, among other products. Asus also makes LED/LCD panels, monitors, and sound and graphics cards, which could come in very handy for a modern VR initiative.
Asus’ Fascination With VR
It’s not entirely clear what Asus could bring to HTC’s mobile efforts; its smartphones and tablets don’t lead the market either. But virtual reality could be another matter entirely.
Asus dabbled in it early on, with the Asus VR 100 3D glasses. It didn’t really make a dent at the time, but to be fair, it was more than a decade too early. Plus, the technology seemed incomplete, even ancient, compared to advances these days. Really, it was more about 3D gaming than the immersive virtual reality environments we're seeing now from the likes of Samsung's Gear VR, Oculus Rift, Sony's Project Morpheus, a burgeoning crowd of startups, and eve Google's Cardboard.
Now, VR has become one of the hottest emerging technologies, particularly among the gaming ranks. Asus already has its hands in that pie, too. Its Republic of Gamers brand promotes a line of computer hardware, peripherals and accessories targeted toward PC gamers.
The company has the technical chops to make the most out of the requisite visuals and audio, and even feasibly develop a whole Vive-optimized system. HTC would surely benefit from that expertise, as well as Asus' deep pockets. According to Gartner, after Lenovo and HP, Asus is the third-largest PC vendor by unit sales last year.
Chief Financial Officer David Chang did try to throw a little cold water on the matter: “[T]he chances of an actual takeover are not big…,” he told Reuters. The simple statement seems noteworthy, if only because it’s not a denial. Tech companies are usually quick to nix rumors or, worse, go into silent mode over potential deals. Chang’s comment was neither—which almost certainly means it’s still very early days.
HTC may be lying in wait, crossing its fingers that Shih wasn’t blowing hot air. Because an acquisition deal could be the best-case scenario—for both HTC and Vive VR fans.
Photo by Adriana Lee for ReadWrite
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