10 things in tech you need to know today (AAPL, TSLA, AMZN, SFTBF)

Tim Cook

Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Friday.

1. The tenth-anniversary edition iPhone will reportedly start at $999 (£779). The device will try to back up its price by offering new features such as an almost full-screen front, facial-based unlocking, and wireless charging.

2. Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee was sentenced to five years in jail. The jail sentence comes after Lee was trialled for crimes including bribery and perjury.

3. Apple is reportedly planning to introduce a new Apple TV capable of streaming 4K content. It would come with an updated app, and be announced at the company's hardware event alongside the refreshed iPhone and Apple Watch next month.

4. Some Tesla engineers are said to be nervous about CEO Elon Musk's decision to deploy the Autopilot technology to all cars in the future. They believe that the technology is far from ready, and could even be potentially dangerous.

5. HTC is reportedly exploring a series of options regarding its future. It could either separate the virtual reality business from the rest or sell the entire company altogether, although this second option seems less likely.

6. Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods will officially close next Monday. The two companies plan to lower the price of a number of items starting next week, and it's said that Amazon Prime members will soon get further discounts and offers.

7. Apple has detailed plans to open a new data center in Iowa. It will cost $1.375 billion (£1 billion) and create 50 new jobs, from which the company will receive a $19.65 million (£15.34 million) investment tax credit.

8. Spotify has renewed a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. The music giant was the last big company Spotify had yet to seal a deal with before going public.

9. WeWork has raised a total of $4.4 billion (£3.4 billion) from SoftBank. The money is coming from both SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund, which invested $3 billion (£2.3 billion) in WeWork directly, and an additional $1.4 billion (£1.1 billion) in three WeWork subsidiaries, WeWork Japan, WeWork China, and WeWork Pacific.

10. An Uber investor, Shervin Pishevar, is accusing Benchmark of wreaking havoc inside the company's board. Pishevar said that he plans to intervene in Benchmark's lawsuit against Uber and former CEO Travis Kalanick.

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