HTC is making a $300 million investment in Beats Electronics (known for its Beats By Dr. Dre Headphones) in hopes of bringing high-quality sound to HTC's mobile devices, perhaps as early as this fall.
According to USA Today, the two companies began discussions earlier this year at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The deal is not expected to affect Beats' other deals with companies such as Monster Cable, HP and Chrysler.
"The marriage of these two companies is very, very good. We are very good for each other," said Beats co-founder (and noted record executive) Jimmy Iovine, in the
paper. "With HTC's innovation, technology and leadership, we feel we can really compete with anybody in this area."
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Here's a nifty cellphone hookup: Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC is investing $300 million in Beats Electronics, best known for its popular Beats By Dr. Dre headphones.
The two
companies are collaborating on creating high-performance mobile sound products such as HTC devices with built-in Beats sound innovations as soon as this fall.
"The marriage of these two
companies is very, very good. We are very good for each other," says Jimmy Iovine, the chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and co-founder of Beats By Dr. Dre with rapper/producer Dr. Dre.
"With HTC's innovation, technology and leadership, we feel we can really compete with anybody in this area."
CAPTION
By Christopher Polk/Getty
Images for Beats By Dr. Dre
and
Beats began
discussions earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, he says.
Since Iovine and Dre established Beats Electronics in 2006, the company has released several lines of
premium headphones with Monster Cable and incorporated Beats Audio into HP computers. Beats and Chrysler have teamed up on a sound system for the 2012 Chrysler 300S due
this fall.
Meanwhile, HTC has become a rising player in the smartphone marketplace with models such as its HTC Evo 4G and HTC Thunderbolt Android-based phones. One of its latest, the Evo 3D captures photos
and videos in 3-D and displays them in that format without the need for glasses.
Smartphone users are increasingly using their devices to listen to music and watch music videos, says HTC
Corp. CEO Peter Chou. Both companies share "the co-belief that amazing audio is a very critical part of the mobile experience," he says. "The power of the mobile device is making it so much easier
to discover, find, buy and enjoy music anytime, anywhere. However, it's a shame the sonic experience is not that great. "
The Beats team understands "music quality and (have) this vision
to deliver studio song quality to the consumer," Chou says.
Iovine sees mobile devices playing an even bigger part in music delivery. "In order for music to regain its foothold as an
industry, music has to go to the telephone," he says. "We want to make the music experience on telephones as great as it can possibly be. And HTC was the perfect partner."
