Is Jay Z Taking On Apple?

JP Morgan analysts released a report this week that discussed news in the tech world that could potentially impact Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL). Here's a breakdown of three headlines discussed in the report.Jay Z buys two music streaming servicesShareholders of Swedish tech company Aspiro, owners of music streaming services Tidal and WiMP, have approved Jay Z's $56 million bid to buy the company. Analysts see many of these companies' services as geared toward "upscale audiophiles," including curated recommendations, artist interviews and downloads in lossless FLAC format. According to analysts, Jay Z's companies should be "little competition" for Apple's planned Beats-backed curated music service.Gazelle sweetens the deal for old MacBook ownersGazelle pays hundreds of dollars for previous generation MacBooks, but the company is running a special promotion this week aimed at encouraging MacBook owners to switch to one of Apple's recently-announced new MacBooks. The promotion gives customers a $20 bonus on their old MacBook and allows sellers to keep their old MacBook for 45 days after locking in the price. Analysts see Gazelle's deal as a "slight positive" for Apple but "doubt this [promotion] makes much of a difference."Apple competitors make secure government tabletApple competitors BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY), Samsung and International Business Machines Corp (NYSE: IBM) have teamed up to make the SecuTablet for the German government. The tablet uses the encryption technology of Secusmart, a German security company that Blackberry acquired last year. The SecuTablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE 16 GB tablet with Secusmart and IBM's special secure MicroSD card.The SecuTablet appears to be a very specialized product that will likely have negligible impact on the overall tablet market.