HTC Pivots From Blockchain to Metaverse

HTC is rumored to be working on a new, high-end smartphone focused on the Metaverse. This could be a game-changer, the kind of product that propels HTC back to the forefront of the market and restores its relevance.

But is it really a good idea? After all, the company has been hollowing out its engineers and designers for years now, frantically flailing with blockchain phones and metaverses to stay afloat in a market that barely resembles the one in which it was once a major player.

What’s a Metaverse?

A metaverse is a virtual world where people can explore and interact in 3D. It is a vision of the future of technology that could transform online communication, gaming and e-commerce. It was first introduced in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash and later popularized in Ernest Cline’s 2011 dystopian sci-fi novel Ready Player One.

In the metaverse, humans can use digital avatars to connect and build relationships with other users. They can also create new personas, cultivate interests and take on a variety of different roles. This is similar to how people connect with friends on social media and in the real world.

The idea of the metaverse dates back to the 1990s, when technology researchers began developing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies that would allow for real-time, interactive interactions in a virtual environment. It is a growing industry, though it has yet to fully emerge, with the potential for massive changes in the way we connect and communicate online.

Tech companies are making big bets on the metaverse, with Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia and Qualcomm leading the charge. Management consultancy McKinsey & Company has predicted that the metaverse economy will reach $5 trillion by 2030.

There are many ways for businesses to leverage the metaverse, including virtual showrooms and branded gaming experiences. The metaverse can help your business stand out from the competition and capture attention in a whole new way.

For example, Accenture uses Microsoft Mesh to onboard new employees with a virtual office space called One Accenture Park. It is a futuristic amusement park-like space that allows new hires to meet with their colleagues and learn more about the company’s services.

When companies do build out their own metaverse spaces, they need to think about how to keep their users safe. This means establishing policies and security measures, such as encryption of user data. It also means working out how to ensure that your digital avatars aren’t hijacked by malicious hackers or other bad actors.

Another key issue is interoperability, which is a key concern for companies developing metaverse technologies. A number of organizations, such as the Khronos Group, are trying to make it possible for developers to create cross-platform experiences.

What is a Metaverse Phone?

The metaverse is a virtual reality space that allows users to explore new locations and interact with other people in the real world. It’s a vast and immersive environment, and a lot of companies are working to make it more accessible through mobile devices.

Smartphones are the most popular gadgets on the market, and many of them will be used to access the metaverse. With the advent of new mobile technologies like augmented and mixed reality, Metaverse mobile apps could let players move from a text discussion to a Monopoly game or even a fully-immersive virtual reality experience.

But to make a phone work in the metaverse, it needs to be constantly connected to the Internet. It also needs to be able to handle heavy data loads and allow for a range of interactions.

A new type of mobile device is trying to fill the gap, and it’s called a metaverse phone. It’s an augmented reality smartphone that can act as a gateway into the metaverse, and it can also act as a crypto wallet.

HTC, a global smartphone company, is trying to stake its claim as the first metaverse phone maker with its new “Viverse” model that incorporates crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) functionality. Its HTC Desire 22 Pro phone is a mid-range device that supports the company’s Viverse ecosystem and comes with an app to manage metaverse content, cryptocurrency, and NFTs.

As a bonus, the Desire 22 Pro’s apps will also help users navigate the metaverse, buy NFTs in a digital marketplace, and create their own virtual spaces. It will also pair with the company’s $499 Vive Flow VR headset, if users want to immerse themselves in the virtual world.

The Metaverse is a rapidly evolving space, and it’s difficult to predict how much it will take off or what will happen in the future. It’s also unclear what sort of business models will be put in place for it, though a lot of companies are promising to show off new experiences at MWC 2022 that will help people connect with others, attend events far away, or explore fantastical new worlds in the real world.

Why a Metaverse Phone Makes More Sense Than a Blockchain Phone?

The metaverse is a rapidly emerging digital space that uses virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology to create lifelike online experiences. It is expected to bring in a $5 trillion valuation by 2030, according to McKinsey research.

The Metaverse is a massive opportunity for both CSPs and businesses to get ahead of. Taking advantage of this evolution requires understanding the capabilities and following their development, as well as thinking about business models and partnerships to make in-demand metaverse experiences available to customers.

In addition, network performance needs to be able to accommodate the demands of metaverse experiences — both on-demand and off. Metaverse gaming requires reliable, high-speed connections for smooth gameplay, while AR glasses and VR headsets require offloading compute and storage capacity to external servers and streaming content from them. Also Read: Does Canes Take Apple Pay

Users of these devices also need to be comfortable wearing them for long periods. This means they need to be lightweight, compact and integrated with their body – from contact lenses for haptic interaction to full-body suits for realistic touch sensation.

Lastly, metaverse experiences need to be easy to use and access, both for individuals and businesses. Currently, many metaverse projects rely on desktops and VR glasses for the best user experience, making them quite expensive to set up.

As the metaverse evolves and becomes more mobile, it will need access to all sorts of devices – from smartphones to VR headsets and tablets to head-up displays. These will be smaller, lighter and more integrated with the users’ bodies, allowing for a more seamless metaverse experience.

However, many of these devices will also need to be capable of streaming content to them from a server. This will require a large amount of bandwidth and network capacity, which will require a robust infrastructure to support.

For this reason, HTC has decided to pivot from the blockchain and enter the metaverse phone space with its new Desire 22 Pro smartphone.

The phone is designed to be a gateway into the metaverse, using HTC’s Viverse ecosystem and a VR headset for immersive experiences. It is slated to launch in April.

Why Is HTC Doing This?

HTC was a pioneer in the smartphone industry, making some of the first Android devices. It’s also known for its virtual reality headset, the Vive, which has become one of the leading VR platforms on the market.

In recent years, however, HTC’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. It struggled to compete against Samsung, Apple and other mobile giants. And, as a result, its stock price has been plummeting.

At one point, HTC was the largest mobile phone maker in the world. But it was facing increasingly tough competition from Chinese manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi, which had been gaining traction at the expense of the company’s more expensive flagships.

That’s why HTC was forced to cut a number of staff in its mobile division, including many engineers. It also had to focus on smaller niche devices that could be sold at lower prices.

This made it hard for the company to create high-end smartphones. As a result, the HTC One (M7) and the subsequent M8 flagships weren’t as successful as they might have been.

Another problem with HTC was that it didn’t have enough resources to invest in marketing. Unlike Samsung, it didn’t have the money to spend on massive, wide-reaching campaigns. This resulted in its flagships being largely invisible in the crowd.

But, despite these problems, HTC continued to release top-tier devices for many years. Even so, its share of the US smartphone market has dwindled over time.

As a result, it’s now focusing on other things outside of the smartphone space. This includes a virtual reality headset, which it spun off into its own company in 2016.

Now that HTC is focused on this new line of products, we may see more smartphones with a VR component in the future. That might be a great way for the company to recoup some of its lost ground in the smartphone world.

We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. But at the moment, it’s worth checking out some of these older HTC phones that are on sale at very low prices.