HTC has formed alliances with the industry's top allies. Will the VR drama be played from top to bottom?

On December 18, the HTC Vive Developer Summit was held in Beijing. Judging from the number and specifications of the media, manufacturers and developers present, this can be regarded as one of the largest public events in the VR field worldwide so far.

Through this summit, we can see that HTC's deployment of VR covers almost all related fields such as hardware, content, platform, channel, etc. Using the word "ecosystem" to describe it may be more in line with the habits of mainland technology companies.

All these show HTC's expectations for VR and the efforts it has made in this layout. Some media have compared it to a gamble by HTC to get rid of the shadow of its mobile phone business and seek a turnaround. Even so, the strategies and tactics adopted by this company in the VR trend are still worth pondering by the industry.

Strategically, VR has undoubtedly become the highlight of HTC's business.

"If we have to say the ratio of mobile phone and VR business in the future, it's 5:5, or 100:100." As the chairman, Wang Xuehong seems to have a natural judgment on technology trends. HTC's success back then was largely dependent on its keen sense of the Android smartphone market.

Tactically, HTC has demonstrated its pursuit of high quality in its control of all dimensions, and choosing the industry's top partners is only one aspect of it. It must be said that this approach is consistent with the essential characteristics of VR technology.

In terms of hardware , HTC Vive already has a single-eye resolution of 1200 x 1080, a refresh rate of 90Hz, and spatial positioning technology. These parameters or features are enough to make it one of the world's top VR headsets.

"Whether it is the products that have been released or are about to be released, we are confident that the HTC Vive experience is the best," said Wang Xuehong. Some foreign teams said that although there are some differences in hardware, the experience that HTC Vive brings to users will be similar to that of Oculus Rift.

It is reported that the HTC Vive, which was originally scheduled to be launched at the end of December, will be delayed until next year. In this regard, Wang Xuehong explained: "This delay is based on an important hardware breakthrough, which is extremely important for the product experience." If the news is true, HTC may be one step ahead in hardware technology.

Based on the devices, HTC also hopes to build a network that matches them in terms of content and applications.

"Half-Life" game designer Chet Faliszek and Bandai Namco General Manager Katsuhiro Harada, as representatives of the gaming industry, attended the summit and delivered speeches. The latter had developed the PS VR game "Summer Lesson".

In terms of VR film and television, Neville Spiteri, founder of WEVR, and Eric Darnell, director of "Madagascar", were present. WEVR is a Hollywood virtual reality studio that created "Deep Blue Whale" and worked with Lionsgate to produce the VR version of "John Wick".

If the device is compared to the torso of VR, the content is like the soul of VR. If the content provided in the early stage cannot bring consumers a shocking enough experience, it will be difficult to regain market confidence in a short period of time. The phenomenon of short-lived popularity is not unheard of in the history of VR.

In this regard, it is necessary to seek a brand company with an audience base and development experience.

In terms of applications, according to Bao Yongzhe, deputy general manager of HTC VR, the company has received invitations from various fields such as education, medical care, real estate, shopping, etc. According to Wang Xuehong, except for Audi, all the well-known brands you can think of have established cooperation with HTC.

The cooperation between HTC and Audi will also be launched next year. At that time, Vive devices will be provided in Audi flagship stores, and consumers can have a virtual test drive experience of any Audi model when they enter the car showroom.

This developer summit is the best embodiment of HTC's gathering of VR content sources. Bao Yongzhe proposed the HTC developer plan, and Wang Zhihua, executive vice president of HTC's software department, introduced Vive's content service platform. Building a platform and gathering developers is actually the most important theme of this summit. This measure may have been taken based on lessons learned from the previous mobile phone business.

In terms of channels, HTC also takes a top-down, professional to general route. Shunwang Technology has 100,000 Internet cafes and 100 million heavy game users across the country. Hua Yong, the founder of Shunwang, said that this group of players is highly matched with VR users. As long as this group of seed users is well served in the early stage, the word-of-mouth effect it brings will be immeasurable.

According to analysts at Industrial Securities, if 30% of China's 144,000 Internet cafes introduce VR equipment, with one set per cafe, 20 people per day, and 50 yuan per person, the market size can reach about 15.5 billion yuan per year. This is what HTC calls the B2B2C model.

VR has high requirements for software and hardware technology and involves a wide range of areas. It is difficult to promote its explosion in a short period of time by a single breakthrough and a strategy of each doing its own thing. Regardless of whether HTC can eventually become the director of the VR drama, its top-down and point-to-surface layout may bring some inspiration to many domestic VR manufacturers: only by concentrating strength can great things be achieved .

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.