HTC puts on design, buys One & Co

Taiwanese giant HTC , noisier this year than any electric broom, yesterday announced the purchase of an off-site industrial design bureau based in San Francisco - the One & Co desk . This little-known company among buyers, however, is in great demand among manufacturing giants - in addition to HTC itself, Microsoft, Sony and Nike, K2, and many other equally famous guys worked with it in the past.

The transaction price, by prior arrangement, is not reported to any of the companies, but there is no doubt that the Taiwanese paid a round sum of money for the labor of 17 people who are in One & Co.

Horace Luke, CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of HTC says: “Our company has vast experience in developing hardware and software for mobile devices, but design is what makes a product love or hate . Over time, mobile phones are increasingly becoming part of every customer’s life and now design is no less important than other aspects of development. ” Luke forgot to mention one thing: design has become important for quite some time and now it occupies almost the first place in importance, sharing it with functionality. A great many examples can be brought: Motorola Razr, the entire Vertu product line, Apple iPhone - the list goes on and on.

By acquiring One & Co, the Taiwanese giant kills several birds with one stone at once. Firstly: this is an excellent design studio, which is already beginning to do everything that HTC has: starting from the design of mobile phones, software, a website and ending with the boxes into which the products are packaged. Secondly: One & Co has a very rich experience working with companies in various industries, from software to knitwear. They create materials and test products, which means that in the future, HTC products will acquire a fresh and updated look. Thirdly: under the terms of the deal, One & Co will not stop cooperating with other companies, with the exception of manufacturers of cell phones and software for them - this means that HTC has an almost endless source of innovation.

In order to roughly evaluate the potential and abilities of One & Co, I can say that the HTC Touch Diamond and Touch Pro were designed by this very small, but very capable company.

Forbes via Core77