Seventy-four percent of survey respondents said they were “Very Satisfied” with the iPad in an earlier November survey, while only 54 percent said they were “Very Satisfied” with the Kindle Fire in the January survey. The average of Very Satisfied customers for all other tablet devices combined was 49 percent. Why the 20-point gap between the iPad and Fire? It came down to what many users seemed to feel were missing features, according to ChangeWave.

The major dislikes that survey respondents listed for the Kindle Fire included the lack of a hardware volume button, the absence of a camera, short battery life, a lack of cellular connectivity and the size of the Fire’s app library. Cost and screen were favorite features among Kindle Fire owners.

Apple’s focus on user experience seems clearly to be better at winning the admiration of users post-purchase, while Amazon’s focus on offering a low-cost device seems to ultimately leave customers feeling like there’s something missing. That strategy appears to have worked well in the short term. One analyst said earlier this week that Amazon may have shipped as many as 6 million Fires during the last quarter of 2011. But long-term, Apple may have been right when it suggested in December that strong Kindle tablet sales might eventually help boost iPad demand.

Consider that the features tablet users indicated a desire for in expressing their dissatisfaction with the Kindle Fire are all features the iPad currently offers; there’s a clear path of where to get what they want out of a tablet already in place. And if Apple does decide to keep the iPad 2 around as a lower-cost offering when it unveils the iPad 3, the Fire’s No. 1 selling feature won’t seem nearly as much of a marked advantage.

On the flip side, Amazon could also address those deficiencies in future iterations of the Kindle Fire, should it find cost-effective ways of doing so. But Apple will continue to push the experiential envelope at the same time, and so far whatever it provides seems to set the standard in terms of tablet buyer expectations. Pleased customers are loyal customers — as ChangeWave says, it’s found that satisfaction is highly linked to future sales, so Apple’s big lead here is definitely a key measure of success.

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Munster claims discussions with a “major TV component supplier” which had been contacted by Apple about its TV display parts lead him to believe Apple is still on track to introduce a dedicated television device in late 2012. However, there’s a caveat: Munster thinks if Apple can’t get a revolutionary new content model in place, then it won’t move on the market this year.

The analyst then goes on to suggest three possible scenarios that might constitute a unique Apple approach to the television market. Those potential solutions break down roughly as follows:

1. Changing the experience, not the service

In Munster’s first scenario, Apple would basically leave TV programming to existing operators and simply layer its own interface software on top, including menus, guides, DVRs and content discovery. Munster notes that Apple was expected by some to manage its own wireless network in the U.S. ahead of the iPhone launch, but instead partnered with AT&T and focused on UI and UX instead of content. Remember that apps came after the iPhone’s original introduction.

2. A hybrid content model

Apple could also partner with existing networks to offer live TV, and at the same time, deliver on-demand content from providers like Netflix, Hulu Plus or any other content partner willing to play via an App Store-style distribution channel, Munster suggests. It’s a “best of both worlds” type solution, and would probably still come complete with an overhauled UX, but might be trickier to negotiate than option number one, since it involves negotiating with two different types of content providers.

3. A la carte

Munster’s last option is a completely customizable, a la carte option that would see users subscribe to live TV packages from content providers. This would be the most revolutionary of the options in terms of the existing TV experience, but it would also involve a dazzling shift in the way providers make their content available, and the negotiations involved in doing so would be challenging, at best. In the end, there’s also no real guarantee that selective programming is what viewers are after, especially if existing, less flexible bundles from other sources cost less.

GigaOM’s Ryan Lawler wrote last year that Apple’s television effort was more about experience than about content, and described a likely outcome of Apple’s TV endeavors that pretty much mirrors Munster’s second scenario listed above.

Given the challenges involved in negotiating the third solution, I have to agree that a system that works with existing content sources, but also opens up the possibility of apps for different kinds of content makes the most sense as a solution that could still make big waves in the TV industry while also remaining realistically possible in the near-term. Which of Munster’s Apple TV predictions, if any, make the most sense to you?

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Huberty bases her math on a potential market of 150 million total high-end mobile subscribers in China across all three carriers, who would potentially opt for Apple’s device. Currently, 20 percent of China Unicom  (Apple’s official Chinese carrier) subscribers opt for the iPhone, so assuming similar adoption rates once iPhones make it to the other two carriers, Huberty expects at least 24 million new iPhone sales in 2013.

There’s good reason to believe Apple is working to bring the iPhone to China’s other carriers. The company’s been securing regulatory approval and licenses for a launch on China Telecom, which would be able to run the iPhone 4S. And China Mobile has been having discussions with Apple regarding 4G technology, which it said in September have been “positive” so far.

Should Apple manage to get the iPhone on both networks officially, Huberty thinks the iPhone could reach higher penetration levels across all carriers, possibly on par with AT&T, where last quarter, the iPhone accounted for over 80 percent of new smartphone sales. According to Huberty’s most generous estimates, Apple could be selling 57 million more iPhones annually than it currently does in the Chinese market.

It might sound pretty far-fetched, but China Mobile already has at least 10 million iPhone users, despite the fact that those users are limited to 2G speeds. And Apple sold more than 37 million iPhones during its last quarter alone, compared to 68.5 million during all of its 2011 fiscal year. Similarly explosive growth in a market known to be hungry for Apple devices is hardly an outlandish proposition.

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Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu has one of the more conservative estimates of Apple’s performance but still increased his firm’s price target to $550 from $540, citing the possibility of an impending iPad launch as a reason to trust in the stock’s strength:

For its outlook, AAPL guided above consensus, which is rare for a company known for its vintage conservative guidance. For the March quarter, the company is looking for $32.5 billion in revenue and $8.50 in EPS vs. consensus at $32 billion and $8.03 in EPS. While AAPL does not pre-announce future products, we believe this guidance implies that there could be an iPad update in the quarter, which is consistent with what we have been seeing in our supply chain checks.

Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities was far less conservative, raising Apple’s stock price target to $666. He talks about how Apple “crushed” Ticonderoga’s previous projections with its results in a note released on Tuesday evening, and he argues that Apple has room to run:

[T]his is clearly a quarter to remember and speaks to the momentum at Apple that we believe has further room to run, ultimately driving the stock to our 12-month price target of $666.

Canaccord Genuity’s Michael Walkley also raised his target beyond the $600 mark, increasing it to $650 from $560. He anticipates that Apple’s results might prompt the company to change its policy on paying dividends (via Forbes):

We believe Apple is likely to announce a dividend during 2012, potentially next quarter when crossing $100B in cash and cash equivalents.  We view this as very bullish for investors, as we believe a new group of investors seeking dividends would invest in Apple and drive shares higher.

Deutsche Bank also raised its estimates, putting Apple’s new target price at $600. Analyst Chris Whitmore said in a note to investors (via StreetInsider) that his firm also expects additional gains from a new iPad release:

[W]e expect iPad 3 in C1Q12 followed by an iPhone 5 refresh in the Fall. In addition, we expect Macs with Ivy Bridge should support incremental share gains and Apple TV appears set to graduate from an ‘Apple hobby’ later this year.

The list is much longer, of course, and Apple’s stock performance in early trading on Wednesday reflects the general optimism: As of this writing, it was sitting at around $447 per share, up $26.60 from Tuesday’s close.

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Wu says in his note that Apple looks to be on track to have sold 29.5 million iPhones during its first financial quarter of 2012, up from his firm’s previous prediction of 28 million devices. Wu hasn’t changed Mac or iPad sales expectations, which remain at 5.2 million and 13.5 million units respectively, but the increased iPhone sales lead him to anticipate $38.8 billion in revenue, and $10.34 in earnings per share. Before today, Agee had been modelling $37.7 billion in revenue and $10 EPS.

The numbers are relatively conservative when compared to the bigger picture. Fortune rounded up a collection of analyst expectations ahead of today’s call on Sunday, and found that the average revenue prediction among independent analysts was $43.14 million, with $12.01 EPS and 33.35 million iPhones sold. Among institutional analysts, of which Wu is one, Fortune found average revenue estimates were at $39.23 million, with $10.19 EPS and 30.25 million iPhone sold. Wu’s new numbers will alter those figures slightly upward, since his original, more conservative estimates figured into Fortune’s calculations.

Apple generally makes a point of being conservative with its own estimates of financial performance going forward, but Wu suggests in his note we might not see as modest an outlook as usual. That’s because the iPhone 4S launched in China on Jan. 12, Wu says, and because his supply checks suggest an iPad 3 launch is very near, which could definitely boost next-quarter performance. The 4S launch in China, which sparked riots and caused Apple to shut down physical retail store sales, certainly seems to have been met with strong demand.

We’ll have coverage of Apple’s quarterly earnings and the company’s conference call with executives right here, so check back to see how expectations match up with reality.

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Here’s why Wu says he thinks the iPad will continue to be a hot-seller in 2012:

We believe this significant refresh will likely help drive higher iPad sales and help further differentiate from arguably the only real competitor in the market, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and not to mention the myriad of Android offerings out there. We are currently modeling 48 million iPad shipments for calendar 2012.

DisplaySearch has already said it estimates 48 million iPad display panels were shipped in 2011. Now, display shipments doesn’t necessarily equal iPad shipments (owing to repairs, replacements, defective stock, etc.) but Apple’s own reported numbers put its iPad sales for its financial year in 2011 at around 32.4 million. An increase of 16 million would certainly be in line with the iPad’s sales growth between 2010, when it sold 14.8 million worldwide, and 2011, but if Apple’s quarterly sales continue to gain steam the way they did in 2011, we could indeed see much bigger increases, especially if the iPad 2 remains available as a low-cost option.

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The report, which comes via DigiTimes, suggests that Apple will source the IGZO panels from Sharp and that they will allow Cupertino to release an iPad 3 that has “full HD” displays without added bulk, something some reports have suggested wasn’t possible with IPS LCD technology.

DigiTimes doesn’t specify the resolution of the displays, and its reputation is somewhat tarnished by claims on Thursday that new iPads could be unveiled at Macworld/iWorld in January. But IGZO displays actually make a lot of sense for Apple, and this isn’t the first time we have heard the company might use them.

Back in November, MacRumors noted that Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claimed that Apple would use the IGZO panels in the iPad 3 in order to achieve 330 ppi resolution (which would exceed the 326 ppi of the iPhone 4 and make for a true Retina Display) while avoiding the use of IPS and dual-bar LED lighting. That would allow the iPad 3 to be as thin or thinner than its predecessor and also offset battery costs related to improved screen resolution, Misek said.

DigiTimes may be hit-and-miss with its supply chain rumblings, but this report makes a lot of sense in terms of Apple’s likely goals with next-generation iPad technology. As long as the IGZO technology looks good, battery cost reductions and a decreased physical footprint definitely seem like things Apple would want to pursue. A thicker iPad 3 with worse battery life than the iPad 2 definitely doesn’t seem like an ideal successor to Apple’s tablet legacy, in any case.

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Tuesday’s report suggested that Samsung would be responsible for the chip running the iTV, which would likely be another in Apple’s A-series of in-house-designed processors based on licensed ARM designs. On Wednesday DigiTimes’ source said that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) are also in the running for Apple TV component orders. TSMC has previously been reported as a possible replacement for Samsung for the production of its next-generation A6 processor, although that report was later contradicted.

Another new element reported on Wednesday in the Apple iTV story is that it will be assembled by Foxconn, according to industry sources. That’s not surprising, given that Foxconn handles a huge chunk of Apple’s manufacturing requirements. The production standards for the TV set are expected to be finalized by the end of the second quarter of 2012, with shipping beginning at the end of the year, according to the new sources. That’s in line with Tuesday’s report, which suggested we would see the iTV hit the market sometime in the last half of 2012.

Apple television set rumors have been around for a while, mostly sparked by analyst claims that such a device was in the works. Comments made by Steve Jobs in his recently released biography lent more weight to the claims, and now supply-chain reports seem to be streaming in steadily. Roughly the same thing happened with the iPad, with rumors of an Apple tablet in development circulating for years before the actual device’s launch. We now know, of course, that the iPad was actually in development prior to the iPhone, thanks again to details revealed in Steve Jobs’ biography.

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The 7-inch iPad has been in testing at Apple for “over a year,” according to what Blair told AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski, but the firm doesn’t expect the company to release anything for the public based on that design in 2012. That runs contrary to reports we have heard earlier, including one from last week that suggested a 7.85-inch device was set for a late 2012 introduction, based on supply chain information.

My colleague Kevin Tofel suggested that there were good reasons to believe a smaller iPad could indeed be on the way; these include portability, credible competition in that space, dwindling iPod touch sales and a lower price point. Blair thinks that price is the main issue Apple actually has to address in terms of keeping the competition in check, and he suggests that Apple can work on that element without compromising on a screen “too small to express the software,” as Jobs had described the 7-inch form factor.

Instead, Wedge Partners sees Apple’s keeping the iPad 2 as part of its lineup following the introduction of an iPad 3 and just dropping the price of the iPad 2. It’s a strategy we have seen Apple use with the iPhone; it keeps the previous-generation device available as a lower-cost option, and with the iPhone 4S launch, it even kept the iPhone from two models ago, which can be had for free with a contract in the U.S.

Obviously Apple didn’t do this with the original iPad as a low-cost alternative to the iPad 2 this year when the newer tablet was introduced, but the situation has changed. When the iPad 2 came out, there was no tablet competitor that posed any real threat to Apple’s dominance. Now the Kindle Fire appears to be doing well, and Apple has to consider that others will join it and Barnes & Noble with an end run at the low end of the market. Also, the iPad 2 offered relatively little in terms of big splashy changes over the original; if an iPad 3 comes packing a Retina Display, as rumors suggest, it should be a big-enough upgrade to allow the iPad 2 to remain on sale without drawing too many sales away from the newer device. This is especially true if Apple cuts the storage on the older device to 8 GB, as it has traditionally done with older iPhones.

A cheaper iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3 is a way for Apple to have its cake and eat it too. It can press the advantages of a larger screen while also competing on price, which would work well from a marketing perspective (“Bigger is better, but not more expensive”). We will have to wait and see to find out what Apple actually does, but Blair’s thinking makes an awful lot of sense to this Apple watcher.

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Apple’s iPhone 4S hit parade continues to roll on, according to notes from two investment analysis firms on Monday. In the U.S., the 4S continues to sell out daily in most Apple retail stores, while preorders for the device’s gradual international rollout also continue to put up impressive numbers. Still, Apple is doing a good job of getting as many phones into customer hands as possible.

Good record at home . . .

In the U.S., Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore found that polling Apple retail stores revealed that more than 85 percent are running out of iPhone 4S inventory on a daily basis. Apple is making sure that customers who miss out one day are satisfied the next, however, thanks to its next-day pickup system run through the online Apple store. Reservations made online for next-day pickup currently account for most iPhone 4S sales, making it difficult for customers to simply walk in and buy, according to Whitmore.

The situation is a little more hit or miss at Apple’s U.S. partners, like AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Whitmore’s stock checks to these outlets found that supply levels were less easy to predict on a daily basis, since shipments from Apple were said to be infrequent and stores were not notified of expected deliveries in advance. Apple often prioritizes its own retail operations when determining where stock is sent, especially for products in high demand.

Based on his checks, Whitmore found his forecast of 28 million iPhones sold during the holidays to be “increasingly conservative,” and that in fact, the ceiling for this quarter will be set entirely by the ability of Apple’s production partners to keep up with demand.

. . . and on the road

The iPhone 4S remains in demand on a global scale, too. Shipping expectations at most if not all international versions of the Apple online store remain at one to two weeks, the same waiting period since the right after iPhone 4S preorders began in October.

Buyers in international markets that are just now getting the iPhone 4S are also eager to get their hands on the device, as evidenced by the recent preorder sales blitz that took place on Friday in Hong Kong. Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said in a note on Monday that the 4S sold out just ten minutes after preorder sales began in Hong Kong, which bodes well for the mainland China release of the device, which has yet to receive an official date.

Apple appears to be doing a good job of keeping iPhones going out to customers without falling into the kind of extended wait times that made prior product launches frustrating for many. The next-day reservation system is a terrific addition in terms of efficiently managing in-store customer demand, and online orders haven’t slipped beyond two weeks as of yet.

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