Tech Roundup: Apple's iMessage for Android, China Alibaba Fine & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• China's antitrust regulator, the State Administration of Market Regulation, slaps a record US$ 2.8 billion fine on Alibaba for monopolistic business practices; rules that the tech giant used its "market position, platform rules and data, and algorithmic methods" to put in place rewards and punishments for its "choose one of two" policy.
• New legal documents submitted as part of Epic Games' ongoing lawsuit with Apple reveals that the iPhone maker intentionally chose not to bring iMessage to Android over concerns that "moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us," after an unnamed former Apple employee commented that iMessage "amounts to serious lock-in" in an email in 2016; also acknowledges Apple was capable of developing a version of iMessage for Android as early as 2013 such that there would "have been cross-compatibility with the iOS platform so that users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with one another seamlessly," but never acted upon it fearing that "iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones."

• South Korean electronics giant LG promises three of years of software updates for premium handsets released in 2019 and later after announcing plans to exit the smartphone market by June 2021.
• Google begins rolling out an update to its Phone app for Android that lets users automatically record calls from unknown numbers; confirms plans to discontinue its Shopping app for Android and iOS in June in favour of its web alternative shopping.google.com, as it expands shopping functionality in Search and apps like YouTube.
• Facebook-owned WhatsApp introduces two new updates to its shopping features, allowing businesses to manage their catalogs via the web and desktop, and hide items that are unavailable.
• Microsoft is reportedly in advanced talks to buy speech technology company Nuance Communications, the artificial intelligence firm whose speech recognition tech helped develop Apple's Siri virtual assistant, for US$ 16 billion, weeks after shutting down Cortana.