General Motors Acquires Cruise Automation For $1 billion

The automaker is going all in to introduce its driverless cars in the market; the latest acquisition is a simple justification of that.

With all the auto-makers getting into the autonomous cars technology, General Motors does not want to be left behind. According to recent new, the auto-maker is about to become one of the most dominant players in the autonomous cars market since it recently acquired Cruise Automation, an autonomous driving stat-up.

After the acquisition Cruise Automation has decided to open hiring to expand its operations; it has announced job opening on its website which are mostly in San Francisco. These job openings include 13 full time jobs and one intern position and all of these are specifically for engineers.

The statement on the start-up’s website stated that the company’s current team is small and since it moves quickly and is looking to introduce driverless vehicles on the city streets soon, they are looking for ‘smart and ambitious people’ to help the company build the world’s largest fleet of autonomous cars.

The autonomous driving start-up company was founded back in 2013 and all these three years of existence it was in an acquisition deal with General Motors Company. The acquisition of this startup is one of the biggest achievements for the automaker.  Several media reports have stated that this acquisition was worth $1 billion which is not a big amount for a company that’s working on magnitude at which Cruise Automation is working at. With the assistance of this partnership, the automobile organization plans to continue working on driverless car technology.

The achievement deal is likely to close by the end of the second quarter of the current year. The Wall Street Journal reports that the startup is expected to open a regional office in Arizona. The reason for opening the office in the specific region is that the start along with GM will build a large talent pool and will get a chance to run its driverless cars in the hot weather.

Previously, Cruise has worked on the autonomous technology on agricultural tractors and mining equipment and also apparently also has a strong presence in the Silicon Valley which means it is in good terms of a number of technology companies. Since driverless cars are the technology of the future, many technology companies including Google Inc. are working on bringing such vehicles on the city street.

In an effort to increase its presence in the car mobility sector, this is one of the many investments that GM has made in the past few years. Previously, it purchased Lyft for a price of $500 million, which is a car hailing firm. In partnership with the car hailing firm, GM expects to start its very own car sharing projects. Subsequently, the company had already launched its car sharing service by the name of Maven and under Maven’s umbrella; the auto-maker has started its Express Drive Project.

On Thursday, General Motors stock closed at a share price of $30.95 down by almost 1.13%. Since the beginning of the current year, the stock of the automobile organization has fallen by as much as 10%.

Qualcomm Inc.'s Too Takes A Sigh Of Relief After Govt, Lift Ban on ZTE

The chipmaker's chip sets have been extensively used by ZTE therefore any restrictions on the telecomm company's trade will negatively effect the semiconductor manufacturer too.

One of the senior officials at the Department of Commerce has reported that the US government has finally decided to briefly pick up the export ban put on ZTE Corporation. The ban in subject was imposed by the US government after the country’s Department of Commerce explored sufficient and appropriate evidences of the Chinese smartphone vendor’s merchandising of US-manufactured high-tech commodities in Iran. Through this move, the Chinese vendor violated the restrictions put by the country on the trade to the Middle Eastern country.

The implications of ban imposed earlier this month would have come hard on the ZTE as under the customary prohibition, the vendor’s suppliers ought to apply for an export license in order to dispatch merchandises to ZTE for sale. The official representing the Shenzhen based organization told Reuters that the Chinese telecomm giant had talks with the US Department of Commerce in an attempt to secure its interest put into jeopardy by the current restrictions.

He also said, “As part of the effort to resolve the matter, and based upon binding commitments that ZTE has made to the U.S. government, Commerce expects this week to be able to provide temporary relief from some licensing requirements.”

In North America, ZTE stood at the fourth position among the largest vendors of smartphones which include LG Electronics Inc., Apple Inc., and Samsung Electronics Co. Therefore, it has its own importance for the Department of Commerce. The glad tidings of the temporarily lift of the ban is likely to bring a sigh of relief for ZTE and other companies with it.

Among such manufacturers is the America’s top chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. After the news of the ban hit the surface earlier last month many investors raised doubt over the impact the ban might have on the semiconductor manufacturer. Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chipsets, including but not limited to premium Snapdragon 800 and 810 are used throughout ZTE’s wide range of smartphones.

Merrill Lynch analysts had earlier reported that around 65 million ZTE devices have Qualcomm’s chipsets installed in them. Hence, at an Average Selling Price (ASP) of $18, the proposed limitation would have mirrored a 5.8% fall in the company’s shipments of Mobile Station Modem (MSM).

Moreover, the MSM shipments ought to have additional negative impact on the San Diego, Calif. firm. The possible result which the ban could have on the chipmaker’s revenue is the substantial 7% decrease in growth from MSM shipment. Therefore, the cumulative impact would be a loss of 5.5% in earnings per share for the Californian chipmaker.

However, after the future probable ban lift, the analysts project chipmaker’s QTL business as more promising as the Qualcomm’s QTL business had potentially transitioned over the year. The $78 billion organization currently enjoys patent licensing agreements with around top 5 Chinese smartphone manufacturers. The patent licensing business is one of the pivotal revenue sources for the semiconductor manufacturer.

Almost 50% of the company’s profits are accumulated from the royalty payments by smartphones manufacturers who use the company’s highly popular 4G and 3G technologies. In the past month, Qualcomm shares went up by 5% and it is more likely that when the ban is lifted the company will go further. Moreover, two weeks consequent to the ban, the shares of ZTE have not been traded in the Hong Kong stock exchange.

At the market which closed on Monday, Qualcomm Inc. stock stood at a price of $52.21. The 52 week range of the stock is $42 to $72.

Last Month Blackberry Lost WhatsApp, And Now It loses Facebook Inc.

The Canadian smartphone maker got a bit too excited after launching the Priv; however with the discontinuation of Facebook and WhatsApp on the devices, worse times are ahead for the company.

Many believed Blackberry Ltd.’s luck would turn around with the introduction of its android powered smartphone, Priv. However, BB user’s dismay Facebook and its subsidiary, WhatsApp, an instant messaging and voice calling platform is pulling the plug on Blackberry. Earlier this month, WhatsApp announced that it will not make the service available on the smartphone’s made by the Canadian phone-maker and now Facebook, Inc., the social media giant has announced that it won’t be providing support to it either.

WhatsApp announced last month that it will be ending support for Blackberry’s smartphone by the end of 2016, so users have until then to enjoy the service on their BB devices. The team of the instant messaging app stated: even though the BB operating system has done a lot for the platform and has been an important part of their story, it has been unable to offer the kind of capabilities that are required for the company to evolve their apps features.

On the other hand, Blackberry stated in a blog post that they are extremely disappointed in the social media company’s decision as many users were attracted towards their devices because of these apps. Despite the fact that the Canadian smartphone maker even fought back with these two and tried to convince them to change their minds; unfortunately they took firm on their decision.

This move does not work in the favor of the Canadian smartphone manufacturer at all, as now users will not be able to share anything on social media platform with the help of a button. The users will lose the ability to sync their contact with Facebook and will not be able to do numerous other things. To avoid all that hassle they simply won’t purchase the products anymore which would results in a significant decline in the company’s sales.

Many Blackberry users have turned to twitter to voice their views however we believe that people voicing their opinions and disappointment will not make much of a difference anymore. Users have stated that they are saddened by the fact that BB10 Leap users will not be able to use these social platforms on the device anymore and that they will have to turn to other devices such as Samsung Tablets etc. to enjoy the experience.

To tackle this problem, the company has come up with alternative solutions which includes the introduction of a new feature called ‘Great Apps on Blackberry’. This latest feature by the smartphone maker will comprise of 20 best applications that will be featured for 14 days each month; even though this latest addition might seem appealing to app developers, it might not be much of an attraction for the end users. The fact that the users won’t be able to use Facebook and WhatsApp on their smartphone’s anymore is saddening news for BB as it will result in Blackberry losing millions of users.

Yahoo!, Inc.'s Games Won't Work Well For It

The search engine company has presented a questionable sales process in front of the bidders.

The clock is ticking for Yahoo! Inc.

Recently in February, the search engine organization announced a rather questionable sales process which baffled a number of private equity firms that were interested in acquiring the core assets of the company. Bidders, which include Verizon Communication Inc. AT&T, Time etc. have looked to be quite reluctant to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement drafted by Yahoo.

The above mentioned bidders were hesitant to consider the NDA and uncomfortable with the terms and conditions that had been mentioned in it. They stated that the NDA was rather lengthy, in their words ‘uncharacteristically long document’. The elongated document (NDA) is an agreement that is signed between two companies especially in the case of an acquisition in which the financial terms of the agreement are mentioned.

However in the case of Yahoo’s Non-Disclosure Agreement, it was an extensive and ambiguous document, as per the report, since it lacked important private financial information that is supposed to be the gist of the document.  

The board of the internet company had set up an ‘independent committee’ to come up strategic alternatives for Yahoo as it failed to engage users and run the core business of the company. In the committee, there was JP Morgan, PJT Partners and Goldman Sachs who were presented as the company’s financial advisors to go forth with the bidding process. Additionally, Cravath Swaine was also hired as a legal advisor in the sales auction and the CEO, Marissa Major in an effort to secure the future of the search engine giant also hired Frank Quattrone, a veteran tech banker.

Numerous investors and analysts questioned the sincerity of Yahoo’s sales process and also accused it as a ‘delaying tool’ just to keep Marissa Mayor around and see how her ‘turnaround’ strategic project works out. Her strategy mainly included cutting employees and spending a hefty amount of money on introducing the platform on mobiles. Despite the fact that Ms. Mayor has been given numerous chances to turn the company around; she announced that her plan would require the company to turn around in about six to seven years.

The sales bidding process does not brood well for Yahoo, as its causing dismay amongst investors and analysts especially taking into consideration that the online search company is already amid a proxy fight with Starboard Value LP, an activist investor group. 

However, despite the fact that the search engine organization is stuff in between a lot of negativity, Yahoo stock had still managed to trade on the red side as well. In the market, the stock was trading up by 2.61% at $35.17 which is quite surprising for the company at this point. It would seem like this disappointing sales process would damage investor sentiments but to our amazement, they are being quite patient about it.

Toyota Motors to Launch Prius at the New York Auto Show next week

The auto-maker will be launching its latest version of Prius at the New York Auto Show in the coming week.

Toyota Motors Corporation has caused excitement as it announced on Tuesday that its ‘next mechanical marvel’ will hit the stage at the New York Auto Show 2016 which is only a week away. At the annual auto show, the auto-maker will be showcasing its latest Toyota Prius. The auto event is scheduled to begin on March 23, 2016.

On Tuesday, the automobile giant unveiled a teaser image of the vehicle with a black back view of the automobile with red LED taillights. The details of the vehicle will be announced at the event, however at this point we know that the new Prius will be distinctive from its previous plug-in hybrid variants. The styling of the Japanese auto-maker is supposed to differ from the previously introduced hybrids, according to Toyota.

In a press release the Japanese automobile manufacturer stated that the city that never sleeps is about to get a wake-up call now. Presently, Toyota’s spokesperson declined to give any additional information regarding the car.

Early this year, the auto-maker launched its fourth generation hybrid Prius; many analysts are expecting that this latest plug-in auto could just be a version of the same generation hybrid car. However, as per a leaked spy shot of the vehicle by Automotive News suggests that even though in its nature the car will be the same but with a different style.

The initially version of the plug-in vehicle was released back in 2012; it was launched as a plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) which was sold for four year. During those four years, the company sold 42,293 units of the auto in the United States. However due to the increased competition from other electric plug-in hybrids from Ford Motors and Chevrolet Volt, the sales of the vehicle were comparatively lower than its other counter versions.

Another reason for the low sales was also because of the car’s electric drive range as the initial Prius could only run about 11 miles on electric drive, according to Green Car Reports. If the latest version of Prius managed to exceed this, it might have a competitive advantage in the industry. As per a publication, the latest vehicle is likely to run as much as 30 miles on electric drive.  

The concept of electric cars emerged when the largest European seller, Volkswagen AG was caught up in a diesel emission scandal; it has installed illicit software by the name of ‘Defeat Device’ due to which the affected cars were producing 40 times more nitrogen oxide pollutants. Due to this reason, at the Geneva Auto Show, many companies showed their interest in developing electric cars. This auto show was held at a few weeks ago and since then the leading auto-makers have diverted their focus on EV.

Mainly because of the auto electrification trend, it is quite possible that Toyota will launch its electric hybrid car or even a pure electric plug-in vehicle for the masses. Toyota stock is up by 0.20% trading at $107.43. The stock of the automobile has dropped by as much as 12.78% and has managed to underperform the S&P 500 Index.

Google Maps has a Dedicated Tab For Ride -Sharing Now

The users will be able to compare fares and choose the best suitable option to commute - tough luck for Uber, as other companies will also be shown on the app.

Seems Uber is in for some tough competition as Alphabet Inc.’s Google is planning on introducing an update to Google Maps which will allows users to view more options for ride services in a specific cab/ride service tab – customers will get a chance to compare fares of the various services provided under the tab as well.

The latest update by the search engine giant will be considered a competition for Uber because it just introduced disruptive technology for it. Initially, Google Maps was only integrated with the Uber service however now it will also post options from other ride-sharing service providers as well. According to the company, the service will roll out on the android operating system initially but will be made available on the iOS soon enough.

According to the search engine organization, there will be five ride-sharing providers alongside Uber across five countries. And along with bicycling, driving and walking, there will be a specifically dedicated tab for ride-sharing as well now. The ride-sharing companies that are currently on board with Google include Ola Cab in India, myTaxi in Germany, Hailo in the United Kingdom and Spain, 99Taxis in Brazil and finally Gett in the UK.

With the help of this new option on a single platform, customers will be able to compare the cost as well as the arrival time to a specific destination and then take whichever according to them is giving the best offer. Users will be able to do all this on a single application instead of going back and forth to two, three different applications.

As easy as might sound, it should be mentioned that even though they will be able to compare fares, the users might face data storage issues on their smartphone as they will need to have the app for the specific ride-sharing service installed on their device. As soon as the user will app on one of the services it will take him to the service’s application where he can easily compare the prices.

The software engineer, Holger Flier, in a company blog post stated that when a user is viewing directions on Google maps, they will also make the ride-sharing tab available, if it makes sense, for each provider. This simply means that if a user is using Uber it will also show UberX, UberXL and UberBlack as an option as well.

Presently, Alphabet Inc.’s stock is being traded in the market for $728.33 at a drop of 0.30%. The highest share price at which it was seen at during the trading session was $732.29 and the lowest at which it was seen at was $724.77 while the current market capitalization of the search engine organization is at $513.48 billion.

Qualcomm Launches VR SDK

chipmaker, qualcomm inc., qualcomm virtual reality, qualcomm software development kit, virtual reality market

On Monday, the mobile chip giant introduced its software development kit (SDK) for smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 820 along with virtual reality headsets. With the introduction of its SDK, the chipmaker has made it easier for developers to create apps and games that would run on snapdragon based hardware.

According to tech advisor, Digicaptial, the VR and augmented reality market will be worth $ 120 billion by the year 2020. The latest VR SDK is integrated by the chipmaker’s Symphony System Manager. This manager of the company handles the CPU, GPU and also takes care of the performance management division. The chip designer, to this, stated that as it is integrated with the SSM, it will get better power management as well as will be able to maintain stable rates.

The latest SDK provides developers to gain access to advanced VR features; furthermore it will be provided to the developers for free via the Qualcomm Developer Network during the second quarter of 2016. The advanced features on the SDK allow developers to simplify development and attain most efficient performance along with power via the Snapdragon 820.

Furthermore, it’s a more efficient way for the developers to spread a processing workload on various processing cores. THE VR SDK is expected to have features like digital signal processing sensor fusion, which with the help of the 820’s sensor core can combine data from gyroscopes and accelerometers. This further allows in faster transformation of 3D images along with better power performance.

Qualcomm is aiming at unleashing the true potential of high end mobile devices with the help of its Software development kit – as it would allow developers to start building apps and games for the optimum customer experience. However the VR experience won’t be as intense as it will be on Oculus Rift headset but it will be quite close to it.

The social media network’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that VR would be the next biggest social platform in the industry. Many other technology companies have been involved in this, for instance HP is using the latest technology for 3D printing while various others are aiming to use it for medical, engineering purposes. Most of these companies are expected to start shipping the products later this year, which makes it evident that Qualcomm has lacked behind a bit in that race – but better late than never.

Court Runs In Favor Of Samsung Rather Than Apple

Samsung has won a $120 million patent dispute with its major rival, Apple.

Samsung Electronics has finally managed to get the court on its side. The South Korean tech giant made an appeal to the court regarding a jury verdict where it had to pay almost $120 million to Apple, but this was overruled by the court.

The Galaxy maker received the good news on Friday that it no longer had to pay its biggest rival in the market with $120 million for a patent dispute as the court called them invalid. Samsung even posted an online statement, which said the iPhone maker’s patents should have never been issued; it informed the public of its victory.

The competition between these two tech companies famous for the best smartphones in the market is now going to be where it belongs with the power in the hands of the consumers. Apple and Samsung are not strangers to one another in the courtroom and this is not the first time they are together in yet another battle regarding patents.

The iPhone maker filed this recent lawsuit in 2012, where it alleged that the South Korean tech business had infringed its patents related to smartphones. Initially, many patents were involved, but the court cut down the list to three of Apple’s and two of Samsung’s patents on Friday. The court concluded that the tech company did not infringe the ‘quick links’ patent and the ‘slide to unlock’, nor even auto correct checker.

Previously, Samsung was ordered to pay $119.6 million to Apple according to a ruling by the federal court in California, San Jose, due to copying patents without any rights and authorization, but that is no longer the case. Now, the tables have turned and Apple has to pay $158,500 to Samsung for infringing one of its patents instead.

In December, the South Korean organization paid $548 million in another lawsuit battle with the same competitor, but it made an appeal to the Supreme Court, which Apple thinks is not worthy of the time of the Supreme Court. These two companies have been at war for quite a while now and have been known to participate in lawsuit in various countries, not just the US, for the patent disputes.

Both companies should be well aware by now that patent disputes are not worth wasting time and the real battle belongs to the market for the best products, not courtrooms. This cost them in several other ways as well.