Western Digital (WDC Quick QuoteWDC - Free Report) finally made an offer for Toshiba’s memory unit, Microsoft (MSFT Quick QuoteMSFT - Free Report) updated its Surface Pro tablet and Apple (AAPL Quick QuoteAAPL - Free Report) settled long-standing disputes with Nokia (NOK Quick QuoteNOK - Free Report) last week. Here are a few details plus other stories-

Western Digital Offers $18 Billion for Toshiba Chip Business

Western Digital is poised to become the second-largest NAND maker in the world when it buys out Toshiba’s stake in their Yokkaichi (Japan)-based memory JV. If the Japan Times report is true, WDC, along with its acquired SanDisk and Toshiba businesses, will command 31% market share, second only to Samsung, which has a 42% share.

Toshiba values its share in the JV at 2 trillion Yen. According to unnamed sources, the Japan Times reports that Western Digital is looking to pay 1.5 trillion Yen through convertible preferred shares and form a special purpose company along with state-backed turnaround fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and state-owned Development Bank of Japan for the remaining 500 billion Yen. The two Japanese entities will take common equity in this firm for the money. Western Digital will buy out this stake a few years down the line.

If all goes well and the two companies stamp the deal, it will still be subject to regulatory approval, which should mostly go smoothly. Toshiba, in any case, can’t wait too long because it needs to generate a profit before next March if it wants to remain a publicly traded company.  

Microsoft Surface Pro Update

Microsoft unveiled a new Surface Pro tablet sans the version number, which it’s probably ditching now. The new device is thinner, lighter, faster (with Intel’s seventh generation Core processor, 1.7x the processing power of the iPad Pro), with longer battery life of 13.5 hours on a single charge (roughly double the Surface Pro 4, 35% longer than the iPad Pro), a kickstand that lets it hold a 165-degree angle for easier drawing and compatibility with the Surface Dial (an interactive device for creative processes first introduced with Surface Studio) and the redesigned Surface Pen. The new Pen offers improved latency, accuracy and pressure sensitivity and even allows shading.

Microsoft’s Surface sales plummeted in the last quarter, which the company attributed to end of life and increased competition at the high end. So pricing of the device is important. This is probably why the company is selling the keyboard and Pen separately, so people don’t have to pay the respective $99 and $130/$170 for them unless they want to. They can pick up the basic fanless version for just $799.

Will this be enough to beat the competition from Apple, Samsung, etc? The pricing seems to indicate that there’s a chance. On the other hand, Microsoft won’t be grumbling if its hardware partners like HP and Dell sell more, because that will generate more Windows revenue. So overall, a “Win-win.”

Read more: Microsoft Unveils New Surface Pro with Enhanced Features

Apple Settles with Nokia

Apple and Nokia have been waging a patent war (read more: Apple & Nokia End Patent Row, Forge New Partnership) that ended with the two saw that becoming pals was made more sense. In a statement issued by Apple on May 23, it said:

“Under a business collaboration agreement, Nokia will be providing certain network infrastructure product and services to Apple. Apple will resume carrying Nokia digital health products (formerly under the Withings brand) in Apple retail and online stores, and Apple and Nokia are exploring future collaboration in digital health initiatives.” Apple will make both an up-front and ongoing payments through the life of the agreement.

Apple isn’t known for quickly solving patent disputes and this one has dragged on for years. But things are souring with long-time partner Qualcomm, so it might just be gearing up for a tough fight.

Other stories

Corporate

Apple May Expand India Manufacturing: Just a week after Apple starting assembling its iPhone SE in India, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the country’s minister for Electronics and IT has stated that Apple has approached the government about expanding the current facility. Apple and the Indian government haven’t seen entirely eye to eye, with Apple asking for a 15-year tax holiday on all imported components and the Indian government finally conceding a limited tax holiday with Apple increasing local sourcing in phases over the next 3, 5, 7 and 10 years.

NSA Is Tapping Apple: The second half of 2016 saw a spike in government requests for data on Apple devices. Apple said it received between 5,750 and 5,999 orders in the second half of 2016, up from between 2,750 and 2,999 in the first half. It also said that 4750 to 4999 accounts were affected.

Apple usually complies with government orders, and for the period mentioned, it provided the U.S. government requested data 78% of the time. Apple also said that one national security letter had been declassified (NSLs are secret letters that are required to be kept confidential even from the person whose data is being accessed. The FBI now periodically reviews these and at times declassifies them, after which they can be disclosed).

iPhone-Pixel Payoff Offer: Apple will give you a $260 credit toward a new iPhone if you turn in your old Android. Apple’s iPhone shipments were slightly down in the last quarter although revenues grew. So it’s understandable that the company is trying to hang on to its market share, which at 44.5% still trails Android’s 53.4% (according to comScore data for the U.S. in the first quarter of 2017).

Google A.I. Beats China’s Go Champion: AlphaGo, Alphabet’s (GOOGL Quick QuoteGOOGL - Free Report) A.I.-trained machine scored another win in China recently, beating the 19-year old Chinese world champion Ke Jie. The game was meant to showcase how far Google’s A.I. has come. It was streaming live on YouTube, but government orders prevented Sohu and Netease from broadcasting it. It’s possible to think of sometime in the future when the machines will be able to facilitate learning in various areas, much like Ke Jie who copied some AlphaGo moves during the game.

Alibaba-backed Cainiao’s A.I. Vans: Alibaba’s (BABA Quick QuoteBABA - Free Report) logistics arm has tied up with SAIC Motor and Dongfeng Motor to manufacture a million delivery vans that will be equipped with A.I. Upon testing A.I. vans in April the company found that the technology helped the vans to travel 30% less and reduce operational costs by 20% with the overall use of vehicles also declining 10%. The million vans are expected to save the unit $1.45 billion a year.

Ex-Bloomberger Twitter’s Live Video Head: Twitter wants to offer live streaming content 24/7. As COO and CFO Anthony Nato has said in the past, “Our goal is to be a dependable place so that when you want to see what’s happening, you think of going to Twitter.” To make this real, the tweet network has just hired ESC Games CEO, Todd Swidler to head the business. He will report to Nato. Before ESC Games, Swidler served as SVP of video and partnerships at Bloomberg.

Legal/Regulatory

Apple's Fresh Lawsuit: A lawsuit filed at the Federal District Court in Delaware says that Kenneth P. Weiss, the CEO of Universal Secure Registry (USR), a small Boston firm received 13 patents for authentication systems for making financial transactions. In 2010, he approached both Apple and Visa with his technology hoping to get them to license it, but neither engagement led to a licensing relationship. On the other hand, the two went ahead and launched Apple Pay. USR has therefore filed a patent infringement case against Apple and Visa alleging that Apple Pay infringes on its patents.

Blackberry Wins Against Qualcomm: Qualcomm received another blow when the arbitration court finally settled the amount refundable to Blackberry at $940 million. This includes refundable license fees from 2010 to 2015 totaling $815 million plus interest and attorneys’ fees as reduced by certain royalties due from BlackBerry for calendar 2016 and the first quarter of calendar 2017. Qualcomm said it disagreed with the decision but would comply because the order was binding. So it will pay the amount by May 31.

U.S. Patent Suit Rules Tightened: It has become a practice in the last few years to seek a friendly court to hear disputes although the law clearly states that the place where the defendant company is domiciled is the only place where this should be done. This is especially true of technology companies, which generally seek to fight their cases in East Texas although most of them are situated far from the place.

Patent trolls, or those that generate revenue through litigation rather than using patents in any product, also do the same thing. Now, in the case of Kraft Heinz Co. versus TC Heartland LLC, the Supreme Court upheld the law in an 8-0 decision. The justices ruled 8-0 that patent suits can be filed only in courts located in the jurisdiction where the targeted company is incorporated

New Products/Technology

Cisco IoT Platform: Cisco unveiled its IoT Threat Defense Platform at the IoT World Forum in London. IDC estimates that the IoT market is set to explode, with end points growing from 14.9 billion at the end of 2016 to more than 82 billion in 2025. Also, Cisco estimates that at present, 60% of IoT initiatives stall at the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage, only 26% percent of companies have had an IoT initiative that they considered a complete success while a third of all completed projects were considered unsuccessful.

The Cisco platform is a three tiered, flexible and extensible approach to secure the network. The first use will be to secure vital services in advanced medical care, power generation and delivery, and automated manufacturing.

Microsoft Windows for China: Microsoft has created a new version of its Windows OS for the Chinese government just as a as a new cybersecurity law requiring foreign tech companies in China to give the government much greater access to the technology, is set to go into effect. It will “enable the government to use its own encryption algorithms within its computer systems and “manage all telemetry” meaning information and analytics about how and what the computer is running.

Windows 10 China Government Edition will not come with OneDrive and other “features not needed by by Chinese government employees.” The new software was developed via a joint venture with China Electronics Technology Group, a state-owned enterprise that develops hardware and software for the Chinese military.

Google Advertising Chops: Google has a new cloud-based measurement tool called Ads Data Hub that will help advertisers glean more detailed information about ad campaigns. Google says that since people are using multiple devices these days, it’s harder for marketers to track the efficacy of their campaigns across devices. But Google doesn’t offer total transparency, so it’s not clear how marketers will react to this.

Google Families: Google is expanding family sharing to Google Calendar, Keep, Photos and YouTube TV. If you have a family group of up to 6 members, calendar will automatically create a family calendar for you. In Photos, you can share to the same family group in one shot rather than individually. Google Keep works a little bit like Google Photos, i.e. you can share notes on shopping lists, to-do lists, etc with the collaborator giving the necessary sanctions to the other members.

"Parents” will also be able to exercise parental controls when children try to buy things from Google Play (for example). Its rolling out in 14 markets, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

M&A and Collaborations

Microsoft Buying Hexadite: As part of its broader plan to invest a billion dollars a year on cybersecurity research, the world’s largest software maker has picked up Hexadite for $100 million. The company offers an automation technology that deals with quickly responds to cyberattacks when they occur. Its earlier investors are Hewlett Packard Ventures, and venture capital firms TenEleven and YL Ventures.

Amazon's Deals with Dish Networks: Dish has said that it has a couple of deals with amazon. The first of these allows Dish's Hopper digital video recording set-top box to work directly with Amazon's intelligent personal assistant Alexa. The second allows Dish's Anywhere app users to connect directly with Amazon Fire TV products to watch Amazon’s programming spread on any TV with HDMI input, or on the go.

Meanwhile, Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins says that the two companies may partner on the Internet of Things. "AWS offers an IoT software platform that can be paired with analytics and other services," Rollins said. "Together, (Dish and Amazon) could bundle cloud (Anything as a Service) with connectivity (Spectrum as a Service) to lower cost and accelerate the development of IoT services."

Softbank Gets $4 Billion Stake in NVIDIA: Softbank, which recently committed $93 billion toward the creation of its Vision Fund (where Apple, Qualcomm and Foxconn are also investors) that will focus on investments in the U.S., quietly picked up a position in leading technology company NVIDIA. It’s estimated that his 4.9% stake (just below the number that needs earlier disclosure) is worth around $4 billion.

Tech crunch reports: SoftBank has been spreading a lot of cash around lately. Other recent confirmed investments include $1.4 billion in Indian fintech unicorn Paytm; lead investor in virtual reality Improbable Worlds‘ $502 million raise; $5 billion in China’s Uber-killer Didi Chuxing; and a fresh $1.7 billion in global connectivity company OneWeb, after also investing $1 billion last year.

Some Numbers

Gartner on China Smartphone Sales: First-quarter data from research firm Gartner shows that Samsung remains the leading smartphone vendor with a 20.7% market share (down from 23.3% in the year ago quarter). It is followed by Apple with 13.7% (down from 14.8%), Huawei 9.0% (up from 8.3%), Oppo 8.1% (up from 4.6%) and Vivo 6.8% (up from 4.0%). The share of other vendors shrank from 45.0% to 41.7%. So it’s clear that Chinese smartphone makers are growing their share of smartphone sales, mainly because of high domestic consumption of lower-end feature rich phones and export to other high-growth Asian countries.

HP Results Boosted by PCs, Printers: HP results topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate on both top and bottom lines. Both PCs (noteboooks up, desktops continued to decline) and printers contributed to the performance. Both commercial and consumer revenues were up in both segments although consumer notebooks were especially strong. The guidance was in line with our expectations.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>