HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 5 mobile phone maker, yesterday announced it was buying a US software company for US$13 million in an effort to boost the strength of its software offerings.
The acquisition of Inquisitive Minds Inc, which creates applications for children on mobile devices such as tablets, is the fourth deal HTC has clinched since the beginning of this year, as the company attempts to improve its product lineup.
It came two months ago after the firm unveiled a US$309 million deal to purchase a 51 percent stake in US headphones brand Beats Electronics LLC.
The Mountain View, California-based Inquisitive Minds owns Zoodles, which created a platform dubbed Kid Mode that creates a children’s version of the operating system on PCs and mobile devices.
“It’s important that they [children] are protected while exploring and learning. We want to create a wholesome, family-oriented environment for our HTC devices, which makes Zoodles a perfect fit,” HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明) said in a statement.
Zoodles is to work together with HTC to create vertically-integrated software, content, services and hardware experiences to be delivered only on HTC smartphones and tablet devices running on the Android or Windows operating systems.
So far, Zoodles, which was established in 2008, has 2 million users worldwide. The company said it transforms devices into a mode that allows kids aged eight and below to safely play educational games and videos that are tailored to their age, skill levels and the desired parental controls.
The transaction would be conducted through HTC’s subsidiaries High Tech Computer Asia Pacific PTE Ltd and HTC America Holding Inc, the firm said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
As of June 30, HTC had accumulated NT$116.44 billion (US$3.86 billion) in cash and cash-equivalent assets, up 47.6 percent compared with the previous year, according to the company’s financial statement.
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