HTC (Photo : Reuters)
HTC is diversifying its products and has launched its very first virtual reality gear.
Entering the world of virtual reality is part of the company's diversification and expansion strategy, even though its core strategy still remains to be its smartphone business.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Taiwanese company HTC announced its foray into the virtual reality industry by unveiling a virtual-reality handset and gaming system.
The new product utilizes tracking and input technologies from game developer Valve Corp. Chief Financial Officer Chia-Lin Chang also explained why expanding into this market is essential.
"Non-smartphone products are necessities in a new, connected world," the CFO explained.
In addition, entering the new market also generates a new revenue stream for the company, whose core smartphone business has been hit with rife competition from other tech giants, both in the high-end and low-end markets. It has to contend with brands such as Samsung and Apple in the high-end market, and Xiaomi and also Samsung in the low-end market.
HTC's new virtual-reality gear is a cut above the rest. Unlike Samsung's Gear VR, HTC's Vive system would enable a user to actually explore and walk around the virtual world, not just confined in a chair watching content.
The Vive is set to be launched at the latter part of the year, probably around this year's holiday season.
The company has high hopes for the new product, and analysts believe that around 25 million of this new gear would be sold across the world by the end of 2018.
