In 2019, smart speaker ownership in the U.S. surpassed 76 million, according to CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners), up from 66 million at the end of 2018. As voice-assistant technologies continue to advance in smartphones, smart speakers, and in vehicles, more consumers and businesses are exploring the benefits of using this technology to make tasks simpler. Tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all chomping at the bit, hoping customers will turn to their voice assistants for increasingly complex tasks. CIRP's research suggests Amazon is the current leader in smart speakers, with about 70% of the installed base being Amazon Echo devices, 25% being made up of Google Home devices, and 5% being made up of Apple HomePods. This remains relatively unchanged from the firm's previous year's research, with the exception of slight percentage growth from both Google and Apple in 2019 compared to 2018.

Canalys released its latest cloud infrastructure spending numbers for China today, and it's all trending upward. For starters, the market reached $2.9 billion for the quarter, an increase of 60.8%. China now accounts for 10.4% of worldwide cloud spending, meaning its second only to the US in overall spending. That is pretty amazing given that China was late in coming to the cloud, but also not surprising given the sheer size of the overall potential market. Once it got going, it was bound to gain momentum simply because of that size.

Lyft is due to be the first giant tech startup to list its shares on the stock market this year -- and it has laid out all the roadblocks that could derail not only its own business, but the ridesharing industry itself. From dockless scooters and bicycles to self-driving cars, any number of transport modes Lyft has bet on could upend the ride-hailing business that it helped pioneer, according to documents Lyft filed as part of its IPO process. To the extent that Lyft is dependent on drivers, they also are a source of risk to the company, as well as potential regulation stemming from concern over increasingly crowded streets and curb space. Analysts said it was among the most candid assessments yet of the challenges facing the ride-hailing industry, which has historically employed as few as possible in its pursuit of the transportation market, instead depending on thousands of independent "driver-contractors" to support its business. The risks, which are mandatory for companies to detail as part of a stock market listing, are a kind of worst-case scenario for the business.

Google has announced it's acquiring a $1.1bn chunk of HTC's smartphone business, and with it providing the once leading Taiwanese phone brand a much needed lifeline. But what does Google want with part of a smartphone business? Google gains half of HTC's research and development team – about 2,000 people – and a non-exclusive license for HTC's intellectual property, allowing it to take advantage of some of HTC's advances in smartphone technology. HTC gets a cash injection, which will help it survive in some very competitive markets, and Google gets to continue its "big bet on hardware" according to Rick Osterloh, the company's senior vice president for hardware. It's "a business decision to have access to one of the best R&D teams", said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research.