Through an official press release issued on Tuesday, HTC has officially denied as “incorrect”, recent media reports that claimed the Taiwanese tech company was looking to spin off its VR operations into an independent new business. The report, widely circulated in the Taiwanese media and later picked up by the global tech media, cited unnamed ‘insider sources’ as stating that the company’s co-founder, Chairperson and CEO, Ms. Cher Wang, is planning to create a new, independent VR company that will be jointly owned by her and HTC. The report also suggested that the plans had originated last year itself, but was put on hold for unknown reasons, after the resignation of the then-CEO, Mr. Peter Chou.
In its statement denying any such plans to create a new company, HTC looked to soothe the nerves of the company’s shareholders by saying that the company will “continue to develop our VR business to further maximize value for shareholders”. The company’s stock price rose by over five percent to NT$76.60 at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) once the initial reports started doing the rounds. Of course, with all the trouble HTC is facing with its smartphone business in recent times, the company’s stock price experienced a major drop late last year. The company’s shares had devalued so much that at one stage the entire company was, in theory, worth less than the amount of cash reserves it had in hand. The company is now betting big on VR, and hoping that the emerging new sector will help it climb out of its financial woes.
Coming to the HTC Vive, the device is the much talked-about virtual reality headset from the Taiwanese tech major, and was developed in association with Valve Corporation – the Bellevue, Washington-based American tech company that happens to be the single largest digital distributor of video games worldwide. The headset will officially go on pre-order starting the 29th of next month, although, it will start shipping only April onwards. The device had earlier been rumored to come with a rather hefty price-tag of $1,500, but an eBay listing earlier in the day seemed to suggest that the gadget will sport a slightly lower $1,200 price-tag, although, nothing has been confirmed officially by HTC.