Weekly Highlights: No iCar From Apple, Sony Teases Cloud-Based Cable Service And More

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry does not think that Google's Open Automotive Alliance will lure Apple deeper into the automotive space.

"Apple has no interest in the car market," Chowdhry told Benzinga. "Not really. That [does not] fit their business model."

In other words, don't expect Apple to tentatively build cool features into future vehicles. As cool as an "iCar" may be, it isn't going to happen.

Instead, Apple will continue to use automobiles to bolster the popularity of its existing slate of iDevices.

Ford and Domino's Pizza teamed up this week to create a new app for SYNC AppLink.

The app allows customers to place an order (hands-free!) by using the restaurant's database of pre-saved favorites.

"We've been looking to expand into the purchase category for sometime," Julius Marchwicki, global product manager for Ford SYNC AppLink, told Benzinga.

"Domino's kind of fits the purchase category consideration."

Sony, famous for the PlayStation brand, Spider-Man movies and countless TV series, wants to launch a cloud-based cable TV service.

The online-only service will offer a variety of familiar features (live TV, on-demand options, DVR, etc.). But unlike cable, subscribers won't be able to access it without an Internet connection.

Sony will test the new service in 2014.

The Japanese tech giant also plans to begin testing its streaming game service, PlayStation Now, this year. That service is scheduled to launch in North America this summer, followed by other territories in the distant future.

Samsung is looking to expand its presence in automobiles.

This initiative could include windows that are made of transparent flat panel displays, along with sensors to monitor the health of the driver.

Beyonce is one of the most successful recording artists in America. Like so many others, she is a major target for piracy.

Pirates downloaded 240,000 illegal copies of her new, self-titled album during its first week of availability.

This may sound extreme, but Gregory Mead, the CEO of Semetric (a data insight and analytics company that focuses on music, video games, movies and TV), told Benzinga that Beyonce's rate of Piracy was "not that bad."

"The general trend line is a big spike on release and then it just goes down," Mead told Benzinga.

"I have a very strong feeling that the number of shares will gradually decline over time. It'll decay. That's the common trend we see with all major releases. I wouldn't say it will peak any higher."

Apple loves startups almost as much as Yahoo.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant made its first 2014 acquisition earlier this week.

This one, a one-man shop called SnappyLabs, might be the smallest company Apple has ever acquired.

SnappyLabs produced SnappyCam, a cheap app that enhances the iPhone's camera software.

Apple is expected to integrate SnappyCam's features into future versions of iOS.

How popular are mobile devices?

Gartner thinks that sales of all mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.) will increase by seven percent in 2014.

By comparison, mobile device sales rose only four percent between 2012 and 2013.

Gartner expects mobile phones, feature phones and smartphones to dominate with combined annual unit sales of nearly 1.9 billion.

Some tech companies invest in startups. Others invest in their own technology.

IBM will spend more than $1 billion on its new Watson Group.

The group will focus on R&D and IBM's goal to bring "cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services" to the market.

Where were PCs at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show?

Attendees have hard a difficult time answering that question.

In the wake of falling PC sales and the growth of tablets, tech companies are afraid to spend money developing and promoting new PCs.

There were several Steam Machines (pre-built PCs designed for gamers) at CES. But traditional PCs are slowly becoming a rare, nearly extinct species.

The preceding stories were just the beginning. Check out these other hot tech stories right here on Benzinga.

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