Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc (GOOG): iTunes Antitrust, ‘JOBS’ Reviews and More

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) are due to re-start their direct device rivalry in the coming weeks, with Google already revealing its second-generation Nexus 7 tablet, with the release date looking to be at least a month ahead of the Apple answer, the iPad Mini.

While Larry Page has pushed his device out first in hopes to get a sales advantage on Tim Cook, Apple is getting its own share of news and publicity, with the recent report that activist fund manager Carl Icahn has bought a sizable stake in the stock to help push it past $500 per share in Friday trading.

Oh, and there is also a little film coming out having to do with the late Apple founder. Nothing like some publicity without paying for advertising, eh? A two-hour commercial?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) v. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG): The Latest Salvo

While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is reportedly preparing its next generation of devices – though the talk of a new iPad Mini is only expected and rumored, not actually confirmed or leaked – Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been moving ahead with its next round of competition, as the firm has launched  its latest small tablet, the Nexus 7, which will be produced by ASUS and is expected to hit store shelves later this month for a suggested retail price of $229.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), according to a review by Hunter Skipworth and Amie Parker-Williams on Digital Spy, is working to put out an improved  Nexus 7 over the previous edition at the same price point of less than $250, which is  at least $70 cheaper than the expected price of a new iPad Mini. Skipworth and Parker-Williams reported the screen resolution at 1200×1920 pixels, which make it very competitive with the iPad Mini by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) boasts a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with a 1.3-megapixel front-facer for video calls. The new device has a quad-core processor, and it’s reported that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean runs fast and efficiently.

‘Jobs’: Ex-Apple Employees Speak Out

Jordan Kahn of 9 to 5 Mac wrote a recap of Slashdot interviews by Vijith Assar with a couple of former Apple employees who worked with the late Steve Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak in the early days of the late 1970s. They were asked about the Jobs biopic, “Jobs,” which hits theaters Friday, and they expressed  their skepticism about the movie.

Daniel Kottke and Bill Fernandez, who were among the first workers  on the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) personal computer, said that several of the scenes in the movie – which supposedly described some of the happenings in the early days in the garage – never happened, or occurred in a very different way that how it was portrayed in the film. They especially noted  a part where Wozniak had supposedly quit during work on the Macintosh project.

Kottke said, “Yeah. That never happened at all. At all. That was complete fabrication. … (T)he reality was that Woz was welcomed and encouraged to be part of the Macintosh project, but then he had his plane crash and so he was out of commission. ” He added that, while he was consulted on several of the early drafts of the screenplay in hopes  to making the film somewhat accurate, he added that the Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) speech during the West Coast Computer Faire was also  part of creative license: “It really blew me away. But anyway, … that speech that he gives never happened, for sure. It was just a booth at a computer show.”

Apple Wins Round in App Store Antitrust Lawsuit

Jeff Gamet of The Mac Observer concludes our Friday afternoon headlines from a courtroom, where Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers tossed out an antitrust lawsuit against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in which some consumers sued  on the claim that the Apple App Store only sold iOS apps and all other apps were prohibited.

We don’t know whether Rogers stifled laughter as she dismissed the case, but she left it open for the lawsuit to return to court saying that the lawsuit was being thrown out because the plaintiffs never bought any apps that were mentioned in the filing, and thus the plaintiffs had not been able to establish harm from Apple’s policies. In Rogers’ opinion, she wrote, “at a minimum, plaintiffs must allege facts showing that each named plaintiff has personally suffered an injury-in-fact based on Apple’s alleged conduct.”

The plaintiff’s attorney, Alex Schmidt, said they will be able to add the requested details easily enough to be able to re-file the lawsuit in the future, though no timetable was given.

Whether you are a simple everyday investor or a fund manager like David Einhorn (who has a $1 billion stake in Apple), take a look at the an official “Jobs” trailer below.

DISCLOSURE: None

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