What Are Google and Apple Chiefs SECRETLY Discussing?

Larry Page and Tim Cook are said to be involved in behind-the-scenes talks about several intellectual property matters, including patent disputes related to their respective mobile products. The Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) chief executives had a phone conversation last week, Reuters has reported, and are expected to talk again at a still-unscheduled time in the coming weeks.

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Discussions between executives lower down in the two companies’ hierarchy are also on. However, it’s unclear whether the talks involve a broad settlement of the disputes between the two companies or are focused on a limited number of issues.

Last week, a jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages after finding that several Samsung products, which use Google’s Android software, infringe on the iPhone maker’s patents. Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, had famously called Android a “stolen product.”

The two companies have also become less interdependent. Apple recently announced its own in-house mobile mapping software to replace Google Maps in the iPhone and the iPad and removed Google’s YouTube from the list of pre-loaded apps for its mobile devices.

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