VENTURE CAPITAL POST

It sounded so promising. Anyone, anywhere would be able to strap on a headset in their living room and be able to experience events anywhere in the world - or outside of it - as if they were really there.

HTC Corp on Friday named Cher Wang as chief executive, giving its founder and chairwoman a bigger role in leading a potential turnaround of the Taiwanese smartphone maker.

When popular Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Inc admitted that its devices were sending users' personal information back to a server in China, it prompted howls of protest and an investigation by Taiwan's government.

Google Inc has selected HTC Corp to make its upcoming 9-inch Nexus tablet, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Google had been mulling HTC as a potential Nexus tablet partner since last year and HTC engineers have been flying to the Googleplex

HTC Corp intends to expand its range of more affordable smartphones after the losses it experienced last year for its high-end product offerings, Reuters reported.

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. has hired Ron Louks as head of its loss-making devices business. Louks had served as chief executive officer at OpenNMS Group and as head of technology at Sony Ericsson.

HTC claimed in a Financial Times article that it had a hand with Microsoft Corp's smartwatch years ago.

HTC Corp would be selling 24.84% of its stake in Beats Electronics for USD 265 million.

Reuters reported that five of HTC's employees were jailed over the weekend over trade secrets breach claimed by the Taiwanese mobile phone maker.

HTC Corp was said to have paid USD 10 million to Robert Downey Jr to endorse the brand in a TV commercial.