Twitter Eyes TikTok; Simon Malls Look to Amazon;, Hyundai Will Add EV’s to Lineup; Surface Duo to AT&T

Add Twitter to TikTok’s list of potential dance partners. The Wall Street Journal reports that the social network has had preliminary talks with TikTok about buying the US operations of the hugely popular, Chinese-owned video app. On Thursday, President Trump issued an executive order that would effectively ban TikTok in the US. mid-September, so there’s the prospect of a sale to a US company. Meanwhile, TikTok could file a federal lawsuit challenging the order as soon as tomorrow.

Simon Property Group, the biggest mall owner in the U.S., has been in talks with Amazon.com to turn some of its Sears and JC Penny anchor department-store spaces into Amazon fulfillment centers. For Amazon, more fulfillment centers near residential areas would speed up the crucial last mile of delivery. For Simon, turning over what was once prime mall space to fulfillment centers shows it would be willing to relinquish an essential way to bring in more mall traffic to secure a steady tenant.

Hyundai is going to market a range of new battery-electric cars under Ioniq branding. Arstechnica.com says the present subcompact that comes in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and EV flavors, but early in 2021 those cars will be joined by the Ioniq 5, a midsize EV crossover based on a 2019 concept called 45. In 2022, Ioniq will launch the Ioniq 6. Hyundai is aiming to sell 1 million EVs a year by 2025. By that same year it also plans to sell more than half a million hydrogen fuel cell EVs.

Microsoft’s Android Foldable is rumored to go on sale and start shipping as soon as this month. Official-looking renders have leaked that show the final hardware design of the Surface Duo. 9to5google.com notes the big difference from earlier leaks is the inclusion of a flash in the top-right corner. This is a leak of “Microsoft Surface Duo for AT&T.” That could be the carrier Microsoft is offering the Surface Duo on, and the origin.