Smartphone maker HTC has acquired multimedia legal transfer specialist Saffron Digital and plans to pay $ 40 million for a stake in online gaming company OnLive .
OnLive delivers on - line , on - demand gambling services over wideband net connections to goggle box , PCs and Macs , but does not yet target mobile equipment .
HTC plans to bribe 5.33 million shares of OnLive , the smartphone maker said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday . The in camera held ship’s company does not point how many shares it has already bring out . OnLive spin out of engineering holding companionship Rearden in 2009 , and has previously received investiture from AT&T Media Holdings , Warner Bros and Autodesk .
The filing did n’t work out on what HTC wants to get out of its investing in OnLive . However , it ’s easy to see why smartphone Maker are interested in game . In January , Apple revealed a inclination of the all - meter most popular applications for the iPhone , and the top five ante up apps were all game .
Also , HTC is n’t the only vendor betting on smartphone gaming . On Sunday , Sony Ericsson formally unveiledits Android - based PlayStation phone , the Xperia Play , with a TV advert screened during the Super Bowl American football game game .
If HTC is to get OnLive ’s service to work well on smartphones , the games will have to be delivered quickly and faithfully . The power to have optimized mental object to smartphones will be key in the future , according to HTC , a view that may have prompted it to adorn in multimedia system delivery specialist Saffron .
HTC is pay up £ 30 million ( US$ 48 million ) to learn the London - based ship’s company , a Saffron spokeswoman said Tuesday . The investiture will help Saffron expand into new sectors such as games and euphony , the companionship said .
Saffron ’s engineering science , which today is used for video recording deliverance , is integrated into product and services in Europe by LG , Paramount Digital Entertainment , Sony Ericsson , T - Mobile and Nokia , and in the U.S. by Samsung . Saffron will continue to work with other companies besides HTC , it sound out .
HTC was the fifth - largest smartphone marketer by number of smartphones ship in the quaternary quarter , according to market research ship’s company IDC . Sales grow by about 258 percent twelvemonth - on - year from 2.4 million phones to 8.6 million . Among the top five vendors , only Samsung outpace HTC ’s growth , as it increase smartphone sale by approximately 439 percentage .
Nokia was the top smartphone vendor , followed by Apple , Research In Motion , Samsung and HTC , according to IDC .
extra coverage by Dan Nystedt in Taipei .
