Apple to Invest $1 Billion in SoftBank Fund to Support Tech

Apple Inc. is planning to invest $1 billion in SoftBank Group Corp.’s giant new technology fund, adding its name to a growing list of interested parties and giving the iPhone maker a new avenue to tap up-and-coming technologies. Qualcomm Inc. also said it will participate in the fund, but the terms and the amount of its investment are still under discussion.

Apple Confirms $1 Billion Investment in SoftBank Vision Fund

Apple Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it plans to invest $1 billion in SoftBank Group Corp.’s new technology fund to help finance technologies it could use in the future. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said, “We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple.”

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Nobody’s perfect and corporate executives are just like you and me. But when you’re running a publically traded company and billions in wealth is made or lost by a stock price swing, the stakes are much higher.

Holiday Phone Activations Bode Well for Apple’s iPhone 7-Plus Sales

But the numbers also suggest Apple’s smartphone sales mix improved for the better. Flurry, which relies on anonymized usage data from the thousands of mobile apps connected to its analytics tools, reports Apple products accounted for 44% of the smartphone and tablet activations it recorded from December 19 to December 25. That’s down from the 49.1% reported for the same week a year ago .

It’s On! 2017 Is The Year The Virtual Assistant Wars Get Real

Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana look to hardware partnerships and development deals to take on Apple’s Siri. The tech industry’s titans have been preparing for an all-out virtual assistant war in 2017-and it’ll be fought by Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant and maybe even Microsoft’s Cortana.

Apple’s New MacBook Pro Has Battery Problems, Consumer Reports Says

Consumer Reports does not recommend buying the new MacBook Pro from Apple Inc. , a first for the magazine in regards to the tech giant’s popular laptop computers, and said issues it found with the devices’ battery life was the reason. In a review published Thursday , Consumer Reports said it purchased three models of MacBook Pro laptops and found “battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next.”

BlackBerry Opens Site to Shore Up Self-Driving Car Research

BlackBerry Ltd. and Canada are opening a research center for self-driving cars that raises the possibility of government backing for the former smartphone maker’s automotive software unit. Chief Executive Officer John Chen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the center at QNX’s headquarters near Ottawa, Ontario, where it will be based.

How Pandora Fell From 1 of the First Players in Music Streaming to 1 of the Last

In this clip from Industry Focus: Tech , Motley Fool analysts Dylan Lewis and David Kretzmann take a look at Pandora’s less-than-spectacular 10-year run in the streaming business, how its competition became so incredibly difficult to face off against, and why it’s going to be so hard for Pandora to recover its edge. 10 stocks we like better than Pandora Media When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen.

2 More Insights From Apple Inc.’s Job Boards

Apple, like most major companies, doesn’t divulge too many specifics on the projects that it’s working on in these listings. Nevertheless, it’s not hard to get some sense of what broad themes and ideas the company is investing in by carefully observing these listings.

The Inside Story of Apple’s $14 Billion Tax Bill

“The Maxforce” is the European Union team that ordered Ireland to collect billions of euros in back taxes from Apple Inc., rattled the Irish government, and spurred changes to international tax law. You’d think it might have earned the name by applying maximum force while investigating alleged financial shenanigans.