Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for Friday:

Apple Deepens Netflix Ties: As Bloomberg reports, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has just begun allowing Apple TV owners to sign up for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) services through their iTunes account. Apple has intensified promotion of Apple TV, and it seems intent on increasing the benefits of its streaming content — especially since the newest edition of Apple TV goes on sale next week. Netflix also hopes to retain customers through integrating services with Web-based TV partners, and seems set on being an ally as Apple moves into the streaming content market.

iPad Sales Freeze Ordered: The latest entry in the ongoing iPad trademark battle, Taiwan’s Proview Electronics just issued a sales-freeze letter to all iPad retailers in mainland China. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Proview’s halt order makes explicit claims that the LED manufacturer plans to bring legal action against iPad retailers — threatening litigation against outlets selling the trademark that Proview claims to rightfully own. Proview’s letter warns: “We will, without prior notice, take the most severe measures possible to hold the infringers responsible for any legal liability.”

New iPad First Ever Bluetooth 4.0-Enabled Tablet: As Slashgear reports, the third-generation iPad is the first ever tablet to be equipped with Bluetooth Smart 4.0. Apple’s decision to equip its tablet with Ericsson‘s (NASDAQ:ERIC) state-of-the-art wireless capability reduces power consumption and speeds data streaming — and points toward Apple’s ultimate goal of instilling its tablet with the functionality of a personal computer. Apple’s tablet innovation may help secure the iPad’s vast market share against increasingly aggressive competition from rivals Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).

Adam Patterson is Assistant Editor of InvestorPlace. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.