Google’s HTC XR Talent Grab Raises Questions About HTC’s Next Move
Google has acquired a number of HTC’s XR engineers, something the company says will “accelerate the development of the Android XR platform across the headsets and glasses ecosystem.” Google’s announcement of Android XR last month represents a critical shift in the competitive landscape, as Samsung will ostensibly be the first to launch a headset running Android XR. Excitement for familiar faces offering up competition in the consumer XR space was tempered somewhat by the usual questions surrounding Google’s ability to commit to the project long-term. While Google has addressed some of those underlying concerns in a Road to VR exclusive, which you can read more about here, that doesn’t reduce the laundry list of products and services killed by the company over the years, one of which includes Google Daydream, the company’s first real attempt at entering the XR space proper back in 2016. Google Daydream View (2017) | Image courtesy Google