Tech Digest daily round up: Tesla rival Lucid Motors to go public
Tesla rival Lucid Motors has agreed to go public by merging with blank-check firm Churchill Capital IV Corp in a deal that values the combined company at a pro-forma equity value of $24 billion. Lucid, which is run by an ex-Tesla engineer, is the latest firm to tap the initial public offering (IPO) market, with investors rushing into the EV sector, spurred by the rise of Tesla Inc and with emissions regulations toughening in Europe and elsewhere. See here.
Huawei’s latest foldable handset, the MateX2, has reached 3 million pre-orders before sale. This includes 2 million on the company’s own online shop, 176,997 customers on e-commerce platform Taobao and some 675,000 people on JD.com. However, analysts say that the outlook for Huawei’s mobile phone business will depend on chip supply – and crucially, how the Biden administration deals with the Chinese company. Huawei’s mobile phone sales plunged more than 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 with the brand dropping out the top four smartphone manufacturers for the first time. See story here: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202102/1216309.shtml
The maker of video game Fortnite has been dealt a setback in its global legal campaign against Apple after the UK’s competition tribunal denied it permission to mount a challenge to the iPhone maker’s app rules. Mr Justice Roth said Epic Games’ case seeking a wave of major changes to Apple’s giant App Store belonged in the US courts, where the company has a separate claim. However, he allowed a similar claim against Google to partially proceed in the UK. See Telegraph story here.
Facebook said on Tuesday it will restore Australian news pages after negotiating changes with the government to a proposed law that forces tech giants to pay for media content displayed on their platforms, writes Reuters. After a series of talks between Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a concession deal has been struck, with Australian news expected to return to the social media site in the coming days.
Streaming platform Spotify is to launch in 85 new markets, bringing the service to more than a billion extra people. The announcement came via a live streaming event featuring Justin Bieber, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Spotify has also announced a new higher sound-quality subscription service and a new advertising marketplace for podcasts. See story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56164840
Back in January, Samsung announced that its Galaxy Watch Active2 and Galaxy Watch3 would finally receive support for ECG and blood pressure monitoring in 31 markets across the world. Although that announcement made it seem like the rollout was imminent, it has actually taken until today for these features to finally become available. To get the new features to work you will need to download the Samsung Health Monitor app from the Galaxy Store and install a new software update for your watch. For more details see here: https://www.gsmarena.com/ecg_and_blood_pressure_monitoring_are_finally_live_for_galaxy_watch_active2_and_watch3_in_31_markets-news-47880.php
