5 things to know today …
1. Apple reportedly earned $1 billion from Google in 2014 as a percentage of the advertising Google generated from searches on iPhones. The amount of the payment was part of the transcript from Oracle’s patent suit against Google. Oracle claims Google should have paid license fees when it used Java to develop Android.
Despite the dominance of the Android operating system, iOS users still tend to be the biggest spenders and Google needs to keep its search engine in front of iPhone users. The search engine giant reportedly gave Apple more than one-third of its iPhone-generated advertising revenue in order to keep its search bar on the iPhone.
2. Verizon Communications forecast capital expenditures for 2016 as part of its third quarter earnings announcement. The company expects to spend $17.2 billion to $17.7 on network infrastructure this year, down slightly from the $17.8 billion it spent in 2015. Verizon spent $11.7 billion on its wireless network last year.
3. Verizon Wireless named its primary DAS vendors for 2016. CommScope, Corning, JMA Wireless, Solid and ADRF will work with Verizon to build distributed antenna systems. Verizon told its vendors spending on in-building networks will be higher in 2016 than it was in 2015.
4. The battle over smartphone security is heating up, with a California assemblyman introducing a bill that would make it illegal to sell smartphones that could not be hacked. Apple is on the other side of this debate; the company favors encryption for smartphones and has said it cannot access data on iPhones that run iOS 8 or later. Privacy advocates say making smartphones accessible to government agencies makes them accessible to criminals as well.
5. IBM is reportedly buying Ustream for $130 million. Ustream is a platform for live-streaming video and is a competitor to Twitch, owned by Amazon.com, and Periscope, owned by Twitter. The acquisition is said to help IBM add viedo live-streaming services to its portfolio of cloud-based offerings.
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