Today’s mobile roundup features Ashton Kutcher’s role in the upcoming biopic of Steve Jobs, the controversial Girls Around Me app, BlackBerry fans uniting and more.

Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs in upcoming biopic

He’s taken over Twitter and even Charlie Sheen’s show Two and a Half Men.  Now Ashton Kutcher’s taking on Steve Jobs in an upcoming movie about the late innovator behind Apple’s highly consumerized success.  An indie film called Jobs, Kutcher’s role will explore Steve Jobs’ early life as a wayward hippie, chronicling the developments that turned him into one of the most recognized geeks the world over.

It’s interesting timing for a movie about Jobs, the man who’s ideas were undoubtedly the driving force behind Apple’s products.  It’s been a different company since Jobs passed last year, and many wonder if Apple will be able to retain its brand’s hold over consumers without Jobs’ hard-lined ideals and marketing magic.  The two product updates since Jobs’ death have been considered minor upgrades compared to previous releases.

Stalking app pulled

Girls Around Me is an app in Foursquare that lets users  view the location of women on a map and their publicly available data and photographs from Facebook.  A lot of people were concerned that the app is promoting stalker tendencies, making women vulnerable to predators.  Foursquare pulled the app from their market.

Girls Around Me was developed by Russian developer i-Free Innovations.  They pulled the app from iTunes since its unavailability in Foursquare rendered the app useless.  They were outraged by the fact that the app was pulled, stating that the app was taken out of context.  They are going to redesign the app, limiting itself to show only public places and venues.

E-book pricing may soon be settled

Last year, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple and the six big publishing houses that concocted a plan to control the price of e-books.  The lawsuit claimed that the seven conspired to control e-book pricing so that Amazon can no longer offer them at a cheaper price.

An update on the case states that there’s a possibility that the Justice Department could hand down a ruling within the next few weeks.  If Apple and the publishing houses lose, e-books would once again become affordable and Amazon would be on top of the e-book ladder once more.

BlackBerry loyalists defend their beloved devices

We all know how poorly Research in Motion’s BlackBerries are doing in the market.  Still, there are some loyal fans that refuse to switch. Unfortunately for them, RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins revealed that if things get much worse, there’s a possibility that they will partner up or even sell the company.

Still, loyalist will never part ways with their BlackBerries because they like the tactile keyboard, BlackBerry Messaging, and its speed compared to some Android or iOS devices.  The BBM feature is well loved in Saudi Arabia and since it’s encrypted, teenagers can still communicate with members of the opposite sex as this act is strictly prohibited in their country unless you’re married.

BB fans are asking RIM not to lose hope since there’s still a chance for a comeback in North America with the BlackBerry 10 – their newest OS hopefully coming out this year.  And BlackBerries are still popular in Asia.

Nokia vs Apple over SIM size, winner may be announced next month

An update to the Nokia vs Apple SIM dispute: the next scheduled meeting of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute regarding which SIM design would be chosen as a standard for microSIM will begin on May 31 in Osaka, Japan.  The reason for the delay is the strong media attention the case is getting.

Nokia stated that if the Apple SIM design is approved, they would withdraw their SIM patents, and if that happens, SIM manufacturing would be next to impossible since Nokia holds patents on communication and processing in mobile devices.  Nokia’s patents aren’t related to the 4FF SIM but are essential to the operation of the SIM.  So yeah, good luck with that.  Unless Apple comes up with a SIM that doesn’t use Nokia’s patent, there would be no point in winning the microSIM design battle if Nokia’s not on board.