For the cynical, the obvious conclusion here is that Ma Bell’s marketing team didn’t have anything to counter Verizon with so the company decided to hit back with a legal filing. Although there may be some merit in AT&T’s legal machinations, bringing in the lawyers is a “jump the shark” inflection point in the two companies’ increasingly nasty competition for subscribers.

The same lovely fellow who got himself banned from the iPhone App Store for creating more than 900 mostly useless applications, as well as over 100 complaints from competitors about stolen software code, is back in the news. This time around it’s the feds making the accusations and they’ve filed an indictment accusing Khalid Shaikh of using DOS attacks against a company he once headed.

Palm said, “Tit,” and now Apple’s answered with a cursory “tat.” The ongoing war between the two companies over iTunes syncing rumbles on with neither side apparently willing the concede let alone play nicely with the other.

When WebOS 1.2 arrived without an iTunes 9 sync fix or work around, pretty much everyone assumed Palm had given up their quixotic effort to restore syncing with Apple’s industry leading jukebox software. And, honestly, who could blame them. Well, what a difference a point update can make.

Previously “redacted” documents from Google put the lie to Apple’s assertion that the iPhone maker and App Store guardian hadn’t rejected Google Voice. A spokesman for the mothership has popped to cry foul, but the damage has been done with everyone now wondering what if anything federal regulators will do now.

Google’s confidential reply to the FCC in the matter of its rejected Voice app says that Apple did indeed reject the telephony app because it duplicated what Apple calls a “core iPhone function.”

When CEO Rob Glaser very publicly announced his company was submitting an iPhone app for App Store approval, nearly everyone assumed Apple’s censors would reject it, providing some down low publicity for Real’s also ran Rhapsody music service. Lo and behold, their app hasn’t been rejected and is now certain to slide into ignominious obscurity.

There are dozens of iPhone apps covering urban transit, schedules and related ephemera. Whether these apps are official or come from an independent developer, free or pay to play, there’s never been a public pissing match like this over what is publicly owned and published information.

Mac users have never faced the authentication nightmares endured by folks using Windows. Likewise, although there are hard limits on how much sharing you can do, the apps and games on your iPhone can likewise be shared with friends and family.

Talk about your slow boat to China. Rumors of the Apple’s game-changing handset officially on sale in the Middle Kingdom have circulated for years and  still all we have to report are rumors and whispered hopes.