Hasta La Gadget!

Although HTC and Beats are just shy of the one-year anniversary of their 300 million dollar partnership, it looks like the two are again growing apart. In a letter to shareholders today, it’s been announced that the original owners of Beats plan to buy back 25 percent of its own shares, for a total ownership stake of 75 percent. That said, HTC will still retain nearly 25 percent of the remaining shares for itself, ensuring that it remains the largest external shareholder. As the release puts it, this new setup “provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC’s major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile.” All in all, it seems like this is more about shifting priorities given recent news like Beats’ MOG acquisition, but it wouldn’t make eventual breakup all the more unsurprising given the partnership’s mixed results.

Continue reading Beats increases its share ownership to 75%, lets HTC keep ‘commercial exclusivity in mobile’

Beats increases its share ownership to 75%, lets HTC keep ‘commercial exclusivity in mobile’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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International HTC One S buyers might look at the black version like it’s humdrum, but if you’re an American who’s had no realistic choice but to get the gray T-Mobile edition, black is a rare and coveted thing. T-Mobile knows this all too well, and it’s using the micro arc oxidized hue as an incentive for loyal employees: work diligently enough, and a black One S with native T-Mobile HSPA+ is yours. There’s no word from the TmoNews tipster as to whether or not the color will ever reach the buying public, which could make it a rare collector’s item for Android lovers — not to mention a mild form of torture for HTC enthusiasts. The optimistic among us are hoping that it’s a sign of phones to come and that both black as well as gray can live in harmony on T-Mobile shelves.

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T-Mobile USA gives black HTC One S to hard-working staff, leaves other Americans turning green originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC has confirmed plans to update three of its flagship smartphones to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, with the HTC One X, One S and One XL all to get upgrades to the newest version. ”We know HTC fans are excited to get their hands on Google’s latest version of Android” HTC told SlashGear this morning. “At this point in time, we can confirm that we have plans to upgrade our HTC One X, HTC One XL and HTC One S to Jelly Bean.”

Timing for the upgrade is not confirmed at this stage, with HTC apparently still working on things behind the scenes. “Please stay tuned for more updates regarding device upgrades, timing and other details about HTC and Jelly Bean” the company told us.

Some of the surprise element of the update confirmation has been pulled, given indications of HTC’s plans already emerged earlier in the week. Australian carrier Telstra was spotted promising Jelly Bean in the pipeline for the HTC One S and One XL, though at the time there was no mention of the One X flagship.

We’re checking with HTC to see if it can share more specifics on timescales for European and North American variants of the One Series updates, and will update if we hear more. More details on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in our full review.

Update: An HTC spokesperson tells us that the update “is for all versions worldwide, including the carrier-specific versions in the U.S.”

HTC confirms Jelly Bean for One X, One S and One XL incoming is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Patents do seem to be the new kind of ammunition in the intellectual property wars that we see are going on these days, what with lawsuits flying left, right and center all over the place. The latest developments in the courtroom point towards HTC filing a counterclaim against Apple in Florida, where the former claims that Apple actually infringed upon a couple of HTC’s patents. According to the Taiwanese manufacturer, these patents were first assigned to Hewlett-Packard and Electronic Data Systems (EDP), with EDP being picked up by HP four years ago.

This counterclaim follows hot on the heels of ongoing legal action by Apple for patent infringement, which is aimed at not only HTC but Motorola Mobility as well. Of course, the Florida court will not be the first one to hear of this patent infringement case, as similar cases are being heard across a range of international courts as well.

Apple’s rivals do seem to be fighting hard for their lives in the marketplace, which is the natural thing to do. Hopefully with all these lawsuits flying around, it would not stunt the industry’s potential where innovation is concerned, in addition to consumer choices.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: U.S. Judge rejects redaction requests filed by Apple and Samsung, HTC smartphones did not infringe Apple patents, U.K. Judge ruled,

The Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S will be receiving official updates to Jelly Bean shortly, but what about other phones? Manufacturers have remained quiet on their Jelly Bean prospects for the future, but the HTC One XL and HTC One S may be the first handsets to receive the update to Android 4.1. Engadget points to a software update chart from Australian carrier Telstra that shows HTC is preparing an update for the phones to Jelly Bean.

There’s no firm date or even vague timeline for when you might expect to see Jelly Bean roll out to the two devices, but at least you can take comfort in the fact that HTC is busy behind the scenes working on the update. Even then, they’ll have to hand it off to the carriers to make sure everything plays nice with specific devices and networks, so we’re probably still in for quite a wait.

Still, it’s good to know the the update is coming for HTC’s fresh handsets. There’s no word on the international mode of the HTC One X, which features a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 found in the XL, but it’s probably a safe bet that the quad-core version will see the update too. If you’re absolutely desperate in the meantime, you could always wander on over to xda-developers and see what they’re cooking up from the AOSP code.

HTC preparing Jelly Bean update for One XL and One S is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.