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Opinion
Tim Culpan

HTC, You Loser

The company squandered its early smartphone lead.

In electronics manufacturing there's no better sign you've made the big league than winning a deal to supply an international brand. Conversely, nothing says loser more than an international brand being relegated to the minor league of contract work.

Google, of Android operating system fame, released its first Pixel smartphones Tuesday to replace its Nexus lineup. HTC has been selected to assemble the device, becoming for Google what Foxconn is to Apple. "Google has done the design work and a lot of the engineering," the Mountain View-based company's hardware chief Rick Osterloh told Bloomberg News.