HTC isn't trying to out-assistant anyone. The company that lost the phone war and retreated into VR headsets now wants $99 for something much stranger: an egg-shaped AI companion that sits on your desk and reacts when you poke it.

VIVEE, launched this week, is a 114-gram collectible about the size of an egg — 60 by 60 by 50 millimeters — with a high-resolution OLED screen for a face, touch and motion sensors, and a soft vibration motor that responds to handling, according to HTC's announcement. Pre-orders opened October 22 at $99 through November 30, after which the price rises to $119, with shipping expected in early December.

The feature list reads like a wellness app crossed with a Tamagotchi: reminders, guided meditation, music playback through a built-in speaker, and casual AI-powered conversations. The differentiator is the "Suits" — interchangeable outfits with built-in NFC tags that change VIVEE's physical look and automatically swap its on-screen face while unlocking suit-specific interactions.

The interesting part isn't the hardware; it's the positioning. VIVEE has no camera, its core features don't require connecting an email, social media, or banking account, and it ships with a physical microphone on/off switch. HTC says data sent to third-party AI providers is de-identified first and user interactions are never used to train general-purpose language models. That's a privacy pitch built directly from the last year of backlash against always-listening devices — privacy as the product, not the footnote.

There are caveats baked in. HTC says VIVEE is for users 18 and older, its AI responses can contain errors, and the advanced features require a VIVE account, a companion app, and a compatible smartphone. Availability outside the US hasn't been confirmed. The company isn't pretending this is essential infrastructure; it's calling it a collectible, which is both honest and a hedge.

The real question is whether a $99 desk egg can carve out a category between smart speakers nobody buys anymore and the AI assistant everyone already carries in their pocket. HTC is betting that personality — literally, an expressive face you can dress up — is the wedge. Watch next: December shipments will show whether buyers treat VIVEE as a toy or a companion, and whether the Suits turn out to be the actual business, Nintendo-style.

— via Business Wire