HTC buyout of Dopod in final stages: i-mate, O2, HP wail

Continuing their skyrocket beyond ODM-dom, HTC's buyout bid for Taiwanese Dopod has moved into the final stages. Having signed a memorandum of understanding, the only thing left in the estimated $150 million deal is approval from the Taiwanese government. Assuming HTC chairwoman and Dopod controlling shareholder Cher Wang, daughter of petrochemicals billionaire Y.C. Wang and wife of HTC boss-man Peter Chou VIA boss-man Wen Chi Chen has enough influence to push this through (read: she does), then HTC is about to find themselves in direct competition with their own customers O2, i-mate and HP. HTC already confirmed their decision to self-brand phones in Europe, now the Dopod deal could result in HTC designs being sold exclusively under the Dopod branding outside of Europe. In fact, HTC has already cut ties with both O2 and i-mate in Australia, New Zealand, and India. So if Dopod's claim that HTC manufactures 80 percent of Windows Mobile phones is true, well, O2, i-mate, and HP best be looking for fresh design and manufacturing blood on the quick.

[Thanks, Ash]

[Mr E @ Sep 19th 2006 8:47AM]

You do know that o2 is a Network Operator right?

[Mrfreezie @ Sep 19th 2006 9:00AM]

Is there a way to change your password on here? Sorry, I am getting used to this new system.

[Smiley @ Sep 19th 2006 10:08AM]

Competing with your own customers is common practice in CE, where few companies have their own plants. And only i-mate ought to shake in their boots, as all of their handsets are based on HTC ODM. O2 has already been looking elsewhere for a while, and Orange is doing the same thing right now (new low-end and very dull Orange SPV coming in January 2007. Should have been earlier but apparently Orange's new Chinese friends didn't meet the deadline).

[Felix @ Sep 19th 2006 10:55AM]

Sorry, but I believe Cher Wang is Chairman for VIA, and also wife of VIA CEO Chen.

[whtrbt7 @ Sep 19th 2006 11:24AM]

O2 is indeed an network operator but they are currently the most successful marriage of CE phone provider and network operator on the planet. O2 has been outsourcing to HTC of Taiwan, Gigabyte of Taiwan, and Quanta of Australia so they are very well situated for sourcing and will continue to be a an OEM client for HTC since there is trust in their brand. HP finally outsourced to Quanta after being with HTC exclusively for years. Their newest unit: the RW6828 marks their departure from HTC. Again HP will continue to contract from HTC since they are a recognized brand. Lastly, I-mate has recently decided to outsource to Inventec (the same company that created the Treo series for Palm) for their new I-mate JAQ. I-mate is doing the worst in terms of new OEMs but they still provide HTC a good deal of revenue. Overall, I believe that HTC's purchase of DOPOD will canabalize I-mate sales but O2 and HP should be fine since their Quanta units are currently superior to the HTC devices.

[unreal mccoy @ Sep 19th 2006 11:40AM]

Is it pronounced DOE-pod, or DOO-pod?

[witty @ Sep 19th 2006 12:04PM]

Doh!-pod.

[Richard Lai @ Sep 19th 2006 4:56PM]

A lot of people saw this coming...
Actually, I don't think operators such as O2 would face any problems as long as it is going to work with HTC on a "operator x manufacturer" basis, i.e. like how O2 is selling the O2-branded Blackberry (so in this case it will be HTC phones with the O2 logo on them as well). I'm not in this sort of industry so I don't know what O2's relationship with HTC really is. Besides, O2 would still rely on a good selection of mobile phones to go with their service plans, so I won't be surprised if my above suggestion will become true.
But yes, the real loser here is i-mate at the moment (and the JAQ is damn ugly!).

[Andy Wang @ Sep 20th 2006 4:40AM]

i think quanta is a taiwanese company too

[E71 @ Feb 4th 2007 10:11AM]

I thought HTC already owned Dopod.