Month: February 2021

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Here's a statement that should fill everyone with optimism: Facebook is building an Android smartwatch! That's according to a new report from The Information, which says the watch should hit the market next year.

Sources tell The Information that the watch will be a standalone device, able to hook up to cellular networks without tethering to a smartphone. The report makes it sound like Facebook wants to build its own smartwatch ecosystem, saying the device will "let wearers send messages using Facebook’s services and also offer health and fitness features." The Information later added that "Facebook hopes to emphasize features that utilize its social networking prowess, such as allowing users to track their workouts with friends or communicate with their trainer" and that Facebook "plans to allow the device to connect to the services or hardware of health and fitness companies, such as Peloton Interactive."

Will the project be successful? Let's just say that every word in the phrase "Facebook Android smartwatch" is cause for concern. If you exclude the acquired Oculus VR division, Facebook's hardware efforts haven't panned out well. The closest previous project to a smartwatch is the Facebook Phone, aka, the HTC First. Facebook and HTC teamed up in 2013 to design a smartphone using HTC's hardware and Facebook's software. Facebook made a custom Android skin with a new, Facebook-centric home screen and a few other additions. The phone lasted one month on the market. Facebook's newer, less historically disastrous hardware effort is the Facebook Portal line, which is a series of video chat devices available in several smart display form factors and as a set-top box for your TV. These did not sell well in the normal market, but when the pandemic hit, the Portal TV sold out along with every other video chat device.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

A potential partnership between Apple and Nissan foundered due to disagreements over branding, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Apple wanted Nissan to build Apple-branded cars, while Nissan preferred to keep its own brand on the vehicles.

In recent months, Apple has reportedly been looking for a partner to build an Apple-branded electric car. Last week, Bloomberg reported that negotiations with Kia (and its parent company, Hyundai) had ended without a deal. The Financial Times says that Apple has also "sounded out" BMW as a potential partner.

Apple reportedly held preliminary talks with Nissan, though the talks didn't reach the most senior levels at either company:

Enlarge / Six new battery electric Land Rover models will arrive between 2024-2026. (credit: Jaguar Land Rover)

Big change is in store for Jaguar Land Rover. The British automaker has a new global strategy, as revealed earlier on Monday by new CEO Thierry Bolloré. There's a new roadmap for Jaguar, which will lose its internal combustion engines as it focuses on purely electric luxury cars. Six new battery EVs are in the works for Land Rover, and the company is exploring hydrogen fuel cells as well.

"Jaguar Land Rover is unique in the global automotive industry," said Bolloré. "Designers of peerless models, an unrivaled understanding of the future luxury needs of its customers, emotionally rich brand equity, a spirit of Britishness and unrivaled access to leading global players in technology and sustainability within the wider Tata Group. We are harnessing those ingredients today to reimagine the business, the two brands and the customer experience of tomorrow. The Reimagine strategy allows us to enhance and celebrate that uniqueness like never before. Together, we can design an even more sustainable and positive impact on the world around us."

Under the Reimagine strategy, Bolloré said that JLR will become a "battery first business." For Land Rover, there are six new BEVs scheduled to arrive by 2026, although the first of these isn't due until 2024. Future Land Rovers will be built using a pair of new flexible vehicle architectures—Modular Longitudinal Architecture and Electric Modular Architecture—both of which are powertrain-agnostic. And production for MLA vehicles will take place at Solihull in the British midlands.