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HTC Vive has reinforced its position in Europe with the appointment of experienced general manager Paul Brown.
Brown, who will be based in HTC’s European headquarters near London, had spent the past six years as general manager of Digital D2C at Disney and overseeing the launch of subscription video and music subscription service DisneyLife. Prior to that, he was the UK managing director of Spotify, where he was responsible for the platform’s launch on mobile in 2009/10. He had also held senior executive roles at Sony Music and US internet radio giant Pandora Media having begun his career as a city lawyer at law firm Hogan Lovells.
HTC Vive hopes that Brown’s experience at the forefront of new consumer media and content will help solidify the company’s position in the market as the VR market continues to grow.
On his appointment, Brown said: “I am incredibly excited to join the Vive team. Virtual reality has the potential to change the world and to genuinely unleash our imagination.
"HTC Vive is leading the way in truly immersive VR technology and content and we are only at the beginning of the journey, much like we were with music streaming and video on demand a decade ago! I am looking forward to working closely with the global Vive team to ensure we maintain and build on our position as a leader and pioneer, with our partners, in the VR space.”
Brown’s appointment has certainly piqued our interest given his experience in mobile development and platform launches. It was rumoured back in January that HTC Vive was planning on launching in the mobile space and while nothing came of those rumblings at the time that’s not to say we won’t see a mobile Vive headset in the future. Similarly, Brown comes from a decidedly un-gamey background and that will lend itself to the company’s desire to expand beyond being ‘just a gaming product’.
