HTC phone featured in Will.i.am music video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjIwmJMqrco]

The Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am just posted a music video on his Google+ profile for T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) featuring Mick Jagger, Jennifer Lopez, a BMW motorcycle – and a white HTC handset. The sleek device is prominently shown only for a couple of second at the video’s beginning, as Will.i.am is typing away a text message. While we’re not 100 percent sure, judging by the looks the handset in question could be the Vivid 4G, available for $199 after a two-year AT&T contract (white costs more than black).

Cynics would say the music vid is but one giant advertisement. Be that as it may, HTC is no stranger to product placement. The company spent $300 million in exchange for a 51 percent stake in Beats Electronics, an electronics company Dr. Dre co-founded with Interscope Geffen A&M Records CEO Jimmy Iovine. The first fruits of that partnership: The Rezound and the Sensation XE smartphones, featuring Beats Audio technology.

We love it a lot (the song, J Lo and product placement) and think HTC should put their sleek handsets into the hands of as many movie stars, pop singers and celebrities as humanly possible. After all, wasn’t it HTC boss who recently argued college kids don’t want an iPhone “because their dad has one”? If that indeed is the case, more HTC adverts sporting cool hipsters and celebrity endorsements are needed to back up that claim.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5uqvcrmJCQ]