BlackBerry’s Mega Deal (NASDAQ:BBRY) , New Product for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple in Trouble in Europe (NASDAQ:AAPL)
BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday it has signed a agreement with EnStream LP, a mobile payments joint venture owned by Canada’s three large wireless carriers, to provide a secure platform for transactions between banks and consumers. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry has been trying to reinvent itself under new Chief Executive Officer John Chen as its phones have lost ground to Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy devices.
The company’s QNX software already is a mainstay in the automobile industry, powering electronic and other systems in a wide range of cars.
Amazon’s newly announced music streaming service is yet another attempt by the company to move beyond e-commerce and infuse itself into the daily lives of Americans with an increasing number of offerings, including grocery delivery and streaming TV. The announcement comes just days ahead of the expected unveiling of the company’s first smartphone.
Starting Thursday, Amazon.com Inc. will offer more than a million tracks for ad-free streaming and download to Kindle Fire tablets as well as to computers and the Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices.
The European Commission will launch a formal investigation on Wednesday into Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, Irish state broadcaster RTE reported, without naming its source. The EU’s competition authority said last year that it was looking into corporate tax arrangements in several member states and had requested information from Ireland.
