Technology

More than half of all Americans either do not own smartphones or would not use apps backed by Alphabet Inc's Google and Apple Inc to trace who has been exposed to the new coronavirus, according to a poll by the Washington Post and University of Maryland released on Wednesday.

Spotify Technology SA's paid music subscribers surged to 130 million in the first quarter, driving shares in the Swedish music streaming firm higher as its business model proved more resilient than expected in the coronavirus lockdowns.

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google would release two early versions this week of their proposed technology to slow coronavirus spread to select developers for testing purposes, the companies said on Wednesday.

Twitter Inc will grant researchers and software developers access to a real-time data stream of tens of millions of daily public tweets about COVID-19, which they can use to study the spread of the disease or track misinformation, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it would launch an investigation into says certain portable gaming systems by Nintendo Co Ltd after privately-held Gamevice Inc filed a petition alleging patent infringement.

Nio Inc's shares jumped more than 14% on Wednesday after it said it had secured a 7 billion yuan ($989 million) investment in Nio China, a new entity controlled by the Chinese electric vehicle maker.

Arm Inc, the British firm whose chip technologies power most smart phones, said on Wednesday it was easing fees for startup companies and providing free offerings to an incubator for early-stage chip firms.

When the coronavirus outbreak in China disrupted global smartphone production in February, Samsung looked set to weather the crisis better than most thanks to its limited exposure there and launches of pricey 5G phones. Its fortunes are reversing.

Shares in sensor producer AMS jumped 22% after the Apple supplier gave an upbeat forecast for the current quarter and the remainder of the year, soothing investors who fear a slump in smartphone demand due to the coronavirus crisis.

Shares in Wirecard slumped again on Wednesday as a prominent short seller demanded the sacking of CEO Markus Braun after a special audit of the German payments company was unable to verify its financial statements.

The social media platform TikTok and the philanthropic Gates Foundation donated $10 million each on Wednesday to the vaccine alliance GAVI to help fund efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.

Facebook Inc ad sales appear to have ticked up since late March, offering investors reason for optimism even as decimated advertising budgets from the coronavirus are expected to weigh heavily on first-quarter earnings, according to data from firms that track online ads.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Wednesday it expected profit to decline in the current quarter due to a coronavirus-related slump in sales of smartphones and TVs, although the chip business would remain solid.

Sales at GN Store Nord's audio business jumped in the first quarter as demand for headsets and webcams from locked down workers soared, and the Danish company said the boom would continue as it caught up with the order backlog.

South Korea's SK Innovation Co Ltd, a supplier for Volkswagen and Ford Motors, will spend $727 million to build its second electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the United States, the company said on Tuesday.

Sensor specialist AMS said on Wednesday it expects the impact from the coronavirus in the second quarter to be limited, as it reported first-quarter revenues within the upper half of its own forecast.

When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met.

Zoom Video Communications Inc said on Tuesday it has started using Oracle Corp's cloud computing service to help handle the surge in online video call volumes brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Alphabet Inc on Tuesday beat analysts' estimate for quarterly revenue as its Google unit posted double-digit advertising growth despite the economic slowdown from the novel coronavirus.

Uber Technologies Inc's Chief Technology Officer Thuan Pham has resigned, effective May 16, the ride-hailing company said in a regulatory filing https://bit.ly/2SiLDZB on Tuesday.