HTC will invest US$300m in Beats Electronics for a major stake in the company in order to incorporate its sound technology into its future products.
Speaking to AllThingsDigital, Beats Electronics CEO Jimmy Iovline said this partnership was the latest step in improving the sound quality in modern electronics, as the shift from listening to music on stereos to MP3s on computers has led to “an entire generation lost to bad-sounding music.”
The first HTC device with Beats technology will be released later this year. Beats Electronics already has a separate deal with HP for its PCs and its TouchPad tablet and Iovline said that this is still in place.
HTC CEO Peter Chou believes the partnership will help create “an emotional connection” to the HTC brand among consumers.
It’s the latest HTC investment made to strengthen its line of smartphones. Earlier in the year, it invested in on-demand cloud gaming platform OnLive for its own devices.
