For years, HTC has been investing in its core business. But since they’ve just wrapped up their best year in history, HTC is looking to spread its wings a little. In the past two days, HTC has announced their acquisition of Saffron Digital and a $40 million investment in OnSmart Mobility.
Saffron Digital is one of the leaders in multimedia delivery for mobile. Their current partners include Nokia, SONY Ericsson, Microsoft, LG, and Samsung. HTC’s acquisition of Saffron Digital show their commitment to their customers as HTC plans on delivering more global and localized content to HTC handsets.
HTC’s $40 million investment in OnSmart Mobility will hopefully give HTC a very compelling lead over the competition on the Android and Windows Phone 7 fronts. OnSmart’s main product is OnLive which offers a subscription based gaming experience without the need to install games directly on your computer. All gaming content is streamed over the web and can played on your TV, Windows and Mac computers. Currently, OnLive is working on an OnLive Viewer for the android platform, but we’re pretty sure that HTC has much bigger plans for their Android phones with their $40 million investment.
Source: WSJ (subscription required)
HTC MAKES STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN SAFFRON DIGITAL, A LEADER IN DIGITAL MULTIMEDIA DELIVERY
Taoyuan Taiwan, – Feb. 7, 2011 –HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced it was making a strategic investment in London-based Saffron Digital, a global leader in digital multimedia delivery.
“Saffron Digital has developed an incredible expertise in mobile multimedia delivery. This ability to deliver optimized content in the future will be a key asset as content becomes more and more complex and localized, “ said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “We are excited to be working with Saffron to increase our global service delivery capabilities and expertise.”
Saffron Digital has experienced a phenomenally successful year with its innovative technology integrated into products and services in Europe by HTC, LG, Paramount Digital Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile and Nokia, among others, and in the US by Samsung. It has entered into partnerships with industry-leading companies such as Microsoft, and Widevine, to ensure that customers are given the best possible video experience across a range of devices.
“HTC’s investment increases our global expansion capabilities and provides us with an opportunity to expand into new markets like Asia and new sectors like games and music delivery,” says Shashi Fernando, CEO of Saffron Digital. “We have grown Saffron Digital into one of the best and most exciting digital service providers in the world and this enables us to take digital content delivery to a new level for our customers around the world.”
Saffron Digital will continue to provide its cutting edge media and content services to its third party partners, which include device manufacturers, network operators and content providers in 26 countries. The company’s headquarters will remain in London and Los Angeles while its management team will continue unchanged.
About Saffron Digital
Saffron Digital is a global mobile delivery platform company, whose products and services are live in 26 countries and 14 languages. Its proprietary technologies, which include the ability to support multi-device media delivery, superfast encoding and Domain Based DRM, have been integrated into products by clients including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HTC, LG and Samsung, as well as services for Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Sky, T Mobile and Vodafone. Saffron Digital is listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 EMEA for 2010, and also won the Best Video Service Provider at this year’s Mobile Entertainment awards.
About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
