Ex-HTC, Apple Staff Get into Hardware

Nextbit, a small mobile software startup founded by ex-HTC, Apple, Google and Amazon employees, plans to move into the mobile hardware business with a "provocative design" setting apart from the competition, Re/code reports.

Nextbit Baton“We want to set this off as something different,” former HTC design chief Scott Croyle tells Re/code. “We don’t have to be for everybody.”

Currently Nextbit is working on a transfer service called Baton-- a Handoff-style service allowing users to save and move work on apps running on different devices. The service requires preinstallation by device makers (rather than downloading by users), and so far has a partnership with CyanogenMod.

Will a 20-person company manage to take on an overcrowded Android smartphone market? We will know once it reveals more of its plans in the coming weeks.

Go Nextbit Shifts to Become a Phone Maker (Re/code)