HTC Vive appointed former senior executive at Disney Paul Brown as the General Manager of its European division. According to the company’s announcement sent to Android Headlines on Wednesday, Brown will be working from the firm’s European headquarters in the United Kingdom and will be tasked with guiding the growth of its virtual reality (VR) business on the Old Continent, including both hardware and software.
Brown arrived at HTC Vive with an impressive track record, having previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Digital D2C and Disney Interactive where he was responsible for the company’s operations in the entire EMEA region, i.e. Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Prior to joining The Walt Disney Company in 2011, Brown served as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Spotify and has worked at a number of other high-profile startups and major companies including Pandora Media and Sony BMG Music. HTC Vive’s new executive was responsible for running Disney’s digital unit and was directly involved in the launch of DisneyLife, the firm’s first massive streaming service. Additionally, Brown oversaw Spotify’s transition to mobile devices in 2009 and will now be expected to lead HTC Vive in Europe with the goal of turning HTC’s VR bet into a sustainable business.
Being a lawyer by profession, especially one that specializes in international copyright laws, Brown could prove to be a significant asset for HTC Vive and its growing content ambitions that recently led the company to commit tens of millions of dollars to funding third-party developers interested in producing VR experiences for its growing ecosystem and even other VR platforms. Brown’s appointment is yet another major statement of intent from the Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer that’s been betting on VR and related technologies quite heavily in recent years. Some of the company’s other units including its smartphone-making one have been struggling to turn a profit in recent times, which is a part of the reason why HTC decided to invest significant resources in VR, an emerging technology that it hopes will soon evolve into a massive market and lead to equally massive revenue that the company will manage to generate thanks to its early foray into the industry.