台湾HTC（宏达国际电子股份有限公司）首席执行官周永明(Peter Chou)表示，HTC正在考虑收购更多的媒体和内容公司，以加速实现使公司跻身全球最著名智能手机品牌行列的抱负。
"拥有领先技术已经不够了。我们必须提供涵盖硬件、软件和内容三方面的综合体验。用户真正关心的其实是日常体验，"周永明向英国《金融时报》表示。
作为苹果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)和诺基亚(Nokia)的竞争对手，HTC已经收购了大量的内容供应商，其中包括今年以3000万英镑买入的英国流媒体视频公司Saffron Digital和以4000万美元买入的加利福尼亚游戏公司Onlive。HTC还出资1000万美元，将台湾在线音乐服务商KKBox 10%的股份揽入囊中。
除了周三发布的搭载微软(Microsoft)最新"芒果(Mango)"操作系统的手机，HTC上周还推出了两款手机——HTC Sensation XE和HTC Sensation XL。HTC Sensation系列手机是与Beats通过品牌合作方式推出的，后者是著名的Beats by Dr Dre品牌拥有者，其最知名的产品是大型高品质耳机。今年早些时候，HTC花3000万美元收购了该公司的控股权。
周永明表示，HTC还可能发起更多的收购交易。
"我们（对收购）持开放态度。我们手握大量现金，如果一项交易合情合理，我们就会出手。我们也愿意对关键部件投资，以保证我们提供的体验是独一无二的，"他向英国《金融时报》表示。
就在周永明做出此番表态之前，HTC上周公布，在截至9月的3个月里，公司季度营收和利润数据再创新高，尽管利润率持续下滑。然而，周永明先前曾表示过，在HTC拓展市场的过程中，他更关心提高绝对利润额，而不是保住利润率和平均售价。
以全球手机市场份额衡量，HTC是全球第五大手机厂商，今年第二季度末拥有的净现金达37亿美元。
但周永明表示，HTC不打算以收购方式获得自己的操作系统。他还表示，该公司曾考虑购买惠普(Hewlett-Packard)的WebOS操作系统，但最终决定继续以授权方式搭载谷歌(Google)的Android系统和微软的Windows系统。
周永明表示，尽管与三星和诺基亚等对手使用相同的操作系统，要做到与众不同很有挑战，但加入规模庞大的Android应用商店给HTC带来的利益更重要。他相信，HTC能对基本操作系统进行细微的改良，从而使自家的产品脱颖而出。
HTC已开发出自有品牌软件HTC Sense，这一软件在操作系统的基础之上，提高了操作的便利性，让使用拍照功能或自动下载天气报告至手机变得更加容易。
周永明表示，"我们可以依靠硬件设计使自己卓然不群，也可以在用户体验方面有所创新，与此同时，规模巨大的Android应用商店也能够为我们所用。"
曾为其它品牌代工生产的HTC，销售自有品牌产品的时间不过四年。但就在本周，HTC首次入选Interbrand全球百大品牌排行榜。
周永明似乎并不担心始终困扰手机行业的专利战争。苹果和微软已经以专利侵权之名，将搭载Android操作系统的手机厂商告上了欧洲、美国和日本的法庭。今年早些时候，HTC曾在一宗专利侵权案中败诉，法官初判认定其侵犯了苹果的专利，使得公司股价应声跳水。
他表示，"这就是行业现状的一部分，我们必须努力应对。我们已经招募了更多律师，而且法律团队必须更努力的工作，但这不会影响我们的市场进入(go-to-market)策略。"
尽管多家竞争对手们都在挣扎求生，而且惠普和夏普(Sharp)等企业已经退出了市场争夺，HTC仍计划继续生产平板电脑。
他表示，"我们才刚刚起步，目前仍在微调中，但由于我们能从手机业务中获得许多协同效应，HTC在平板电脑市场占据了非常有利的位置。此外，HTC的品牌知名度也越来越高。"
周永明表示，HTC明年将推出一款新的平板电脑，但也承认市场压力很大。
"我们需要拿出特别酷的产品来，"他表示。
译者/邢嵬
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001041186
Peter Chou, chief executive of HTC, says the Taiwanese company is considering further acquisitions of media and content companies in order to step up its battle to become one of the world's best-known smartphone brands.
"Having leading-edge technology is no longer enough. It needs to be a holistic experience of hardware, software and content. What users really care about are the day-to-day experiences," Mr Chou tells the Financial Times.
HTC, which competes with Apple, Samsung and Nokia, has already acquired a number of content companies, including Saffron Digital, a UK video streaming company, which it bought for £30m this year and Onlive, the California-based games company, for $40m. HTC also spent $10m on a 10 per cent stake in KKBox, the Taiwanese online music service.
As well as its launch on Wednesday of handsets running on Microsoft's new Mango operating system, the company last week launched two phones – The HTC Sensation XE and the HTC Sensation XL. The Sensation phones were co-branded with Beats, creators of the famous Beats by Dr Dre brand, best known for their large distinctive headphones. HTC spent $300m on buying a controlling stake in the company earlier this year.
Mr Chou says more deals could be on the cards.
"We are open-minded [about acquisitions]. We have a lot of cash and if a deal makes sense, we will do it. We are open to making investments in key components to ensure we are providing a unique experience," he told the FT.
Mr Chou's comments come after HTC last week reported another quarter of record revenue and profits in the three months to September, although the company's profit margins continued to decline. Mr Chou, however, had said earlier that he was more concerned with growing absolute profits as HTC broadens its market, rather than defending margins and average selling prices.
HTC, the which is number five by global market share in handsets, had net cash of $3.7bn at the end of the second quarter this year.
Mr Chou says however that HTC has no plans to buy its own operating system. The company had considered buying Hewlett-Packard's WebOS operating system, but had decided to stick with licensing Google's Android system and Microsoft's Windows, he says.
Although it is challenging to differentiate while using the same operating software as rivals like Samsung and Nokia, Mr Chou says this was outweighed by the benefits of being part of a large Android marketplace for apps. He believes HTC can make small refinements on top of the basic system that will can make its products stand out.
The company has developed its own branded software, HTC Sense, which sits on top of the operating system and makes it easier, for example, to use the camera, or to get an automatic weather report to the handset.
"We can differentiate with our hardware design and we can innovate with the user experience, while at the same time leveraging the large marketplace for Android apps," he says.
Once a contract manufacturer for other brands, HTC has been selling its own-branded devices for just four years. However, this week it was included, for the first time in Interbrand's list of the world's top 100 brands.
The patent wars buffeting the handset industry do not appear to worry Mr Chou. Apple and Microsoft have challenged handset makers using the Android operating system in courts in Europe, the US and Japan, over alleged patent infringements. HTC lost an initial patent infringement ruling to Apple earlier this year, sending shares in the company down.
"It is part of the business and we just have to manage that. We have hired some more lawyers and our legal team has to work harder, but it is not affecting our go-to-market strategies," he says.
HTC also plans to continue to making tablet computers, despite the fact that many competitors have struggled and some, such as Hewlett-Packard and Sharp, have dropped out of the market.
"We are still at the very beginning, we are still fine-tuning but HTC is positioned very well to be in the tablet market because we can bring a lot of synergies from the handset business. HTC's brand awareness is also becoming much better," he said.
Mr Chou said the company was looking to launch a new tablet next year, but acknowledged the pressure in the market was intense.
"We need to come out with something really cool," he said.
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