14 DAY TRIAL // HTC announced the acquisition of Abaxia, a France-based software developer specialized in mobile software solutions for network operators and handset manufacturers. The acquisition will strengthen HTC's software-development capabilities.
"HTC is committed to creating the best possible mobile experience for our customers today, tomorrow and into the future," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation, said. "The addition of Abaxia deepen and broaden our software development capabilities so that we can innovate at an even faster pace."
HTC is expected to use Abaxia's expertise to improve its HTC Sense UI. Featured on the newest Android and Windows Mobile devices produced by the manufacturer, HTC Sense is a user interface that debuted on the HTC Hero. Built upon three fundamental principles, "make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected," it makes the interaction between the user and the mobile phone simpler and more natural.
Abaxia has three product offerings that have been demoed at the Mobile World Congress this year: Mobile Portal, Mobile Finder and the Abaxia Open Platform server solution. Mobile Portal is an application embedded in the handset, which provides one-click access to services and information through the idle screen.
Mobile Finder is a solution that combines on-device and online search, enabling users to quickly find contacts, phone features and other services. The Abaxia Open Platform is a server solution that allows the activation of the idle screen. It provides a client-server architecture to access content, advertising and search from a mobile handset.
This is not the first cooperation between the two companies. "HTC and Abaxia have worked closely together in the past and our businesses complement each other well," Cedric Mangaud, CEO of Abaxia, stated. "We’re excited to be joining such a significant and emerging mobile brand."
Founded in 2001, Abaxia has worked with major mobile operators in over 30 countries, including big names like Orange, Vodafone and SFR, and also with handset manufacturers like Nokia and Samsung.