The Motorola Razr Reincarnated; Ford’s e-SUV, Mustang Mach-E; Google Assistant Smart Speaker Sales Way Down; Apple May bundle Music, TV+, and News+

Motorola has unveiled a modern version of the Razr, and this one is a smartphone that folds in half. Theverge.com reports that it has a 6.2 inch foldable plastic OLED screen, and runs Android. It will cost an eye-watering $1499 when it gets into users’ hands in January. The Razr uses hinges on both sides of the screen, so the screen has no crease…think of folding a sheet of paper over but not creasing it. It runs on a Snapdragon 710, has 6 gigs of ram, and in addition to the folding screen, has a 2.7 inch quick view screen for reminders and the like on the front…a call back to the original. Speaking of a tip of the hat to the original, you can even use the software to emulate the old school one…displaying what looks like a Razr keyboard on the bottom half of the screen, and the top half displays images reminiscent of the original! Time will tell if people will go for this pricey a folder that doesn’t offer cutting edge processing and the like (it also has 2 smallish batteries), but perhaps nostalgia will help carry it to some success when it drops.

We are just days from Ford unveiling its e-SUV, and now we have a name. It will be called the Mustang Mach-E when it is shown off on Sunday. Not only that, according to techcrunch.com, you will be able to sign up online and reserve one with a $500 deposit. Early actors will have access to a ‘First Edition.’ Ford will reveal more details about that at the launch event this weekend. Targeted EPA range of the Mustang Mach-E is 300 miles, according to Ford, and you should be able to get 47 miles of charge in only 10 minutes with a 150Kw fast charger.

Alexa is growing like a weed…meanwhile, Google Assistant smart speaker sales have tanked, falling off 40%. 9to5google.com says a report from Canalys indicates that the smart speaker market grew by 44% in the third quarter of 2019, seeing 28.6 million shipped. A ton of those units were from Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Baidu. Amazon still holds down 31.9% of the market, and Google has 29.9%, but the others are growing so explosively, that Google is now 4th in sales. On the other hand, Apple is lumped in with ‘others,’ so it could be worse!

Apple is apparently thinking of offering a bundle next year that would include Apple Music, TV+, and News+. According to bgr.com, Apple has cut deals with publishers that would allow such a deal. Right now, News+ is $10 a month, Apple TV+ is $4.99 a month, and Apple Music runs $9.99 a month for single, $14.99 for Family Sharing. If you add them all up with the family plan, it’s $30 a month…a pretty good hit. No word on how much Apple might shave, but it’s a good bet it will be priced at either $25 or $20 a month.