BARCELONA, SPAIN — Smartphone manufacturer HTC has revealed plans to bring out a virtual reality headset for the consumer market before the end of the year.
It is developing the Vive headset in collaboration with Valve, a US-based computer games maker and distributor.
The Vive will go out to software developers this spring, the two companies promised, with Valve demonstrating its new SteamVR hardware this week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
HTC chief executive Peter Chou, speaking yesterday at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, said: "We believe that virtual reality will totally transform the way that we interact with the world."
HTC is also bringing out a fitness band developed in partnership with the apparel company Under Armour.
The HTC Grip had already been announced but was unveiled at MWC yesterday.
Last month HTC handed its CMO role to newcomer Idris Mootee, the CEO and president of Idea Couture, a Canadian agency specializing in wearable technology, interactive design and research.
This article first appeared on marketingmagazine.co.uk.