Before you think, “say what?” have a gander at this 400x video scan of a tubular adenoma of the colon, taken with an iPhone 4S and the Skylight, a smartphone adapter for microscopes that’s now a Kickstarter project.

The SkyLight actually works with nearly any other smartphone as well, but it should excel with an iPhone 4S, if not some of the high-end Nokia models that use superb optics. Most focusing is done on the microscope itself, but the SkyLight relies upon a smartphone’s auto-focus feature for fine focusing.

This Kickstarter project already raised more than $22,000, which is greater than the $15,000 goal originally set. CSI types can still get in on the action with a pledge of $60 or more for a SkyLight. The microscope? You’ll have to supply that yourself.

I especially like how you can record video through the microscope with a SkyLight. Kids telling parents about what they saw in biology class is one thing; to share an actual video is quite a different experience.

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Apple’s 37 million fourth quarter iPhone shipments were a far cry from the market leaders, however. Nokia still ruled the roost with 113.5 million handset shipments, while Samsung edged closer to grabbing the top spot with a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year, to a total of 97.6 million units shipped. Samsung succeeded by growing its smartphone sales, but also by increasing its feature phone shipment numbers in an otherwise soft market for those devices.

While Apple was the biggest gainer percentage-wise during the quarter, LG suffered the biggest drop,with a negative 42.2 percent change compared to the same period in 2010. Its total shipments were at 17.7 million for the year, which is on par with 2007 levels. LG definitely felt the hit of the waning feature phone market and was unable to do much to impress consumers with its smartphones, either.

Apple also ranked third overall in terms of  mobile phone shipments throughout the whole calendar year thanks to its fourth quarter results, with 93.2 iPhone shipments and year-over-year growth of 96.2 percent.

IDC predicts that the mobile phone market will continue to experience double-digit growth, despite only seeing 11.1 percent growth year-over-year in 2011, versus 18.7 percent growth between 2009 and 2010.

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In delivering the ruling, judge Andreas Mueller suggested that the court didn’t like Apple’s chances for maintaining the validity of the patent claim, saying that “Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection.”

It’s a win for Samsung, and one that will no doubt take the sting out of a ruling Tuesday that saw a Düsseldorf court uphold an injunction against the original Galaxy Tab 10.1. This injunction also would have applied to a technical patent, not design IP, which would’ve been much harder for Samsung to work around with simple software or hardware modifications.

Samsung’s bigger concern will still be the pending European Commission’s investigation related to its legal use of patents requiring fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms, which the EU regulatory body formally announced on Tuesday.

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Apple has been taking preparatory steps in advance of a launch with China Telecom, China’s third largest mobile network operator. Earlier in January, Apple secured regulatory approval to sell a device in China that operates using the CDMA2000 network standard, which is the technology China Telecom uses for its 3G network. At the time, the only step remaining for Apple was to get a license from China’s Telecommunications Equipment and Certification Center to begin selling the device, which it gained on Monday this week.

Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty predicted Apple could grow its iPhone sales by as many as 57 million units in China over the next two years if it succeeds in securing partnerships with China Telecom and China Mobile. China Telecom will offer Apple a potential subscriber pool of roughly 15 million high-end subscribers according to Morgan Stanley’s numbers, approximately doubling its current reach through official partner China Unicom.

The deal hasn’t yet been confirmed by Beijing Telecom’s parent company beyond the report from China Daily, and no pricing details have been released, but the pieces are in place, and there’s little reason to suspect Apple wouldn’t want to expand its presence in China as quickly as possible. No doubt a partnership with China Mobile, which reaches 650 million subscribers and has around a 70-percent share of the Chinese mobile market, is also a priority, but technological factors likely precludes official iPhone support until Apple creates a version specifically for China Mobile’s network.

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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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Apple CEO Tim Cook said during his company’s recent earnings call that iPad sales haven’t really been affected by the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is no doubt contributing heavily to the success of Android tablets. It’s also likely the Barnes & Noble Nook Color and Nook Tablet are included in the Android figures. Instead, Cook admitted the iPad has had some cannibalization effect on sales of Macs, and he predicted that one day, the tablet market will be larger in volume than the PC market.

Compared to Android, Apple still has a dominant position in the tablet market, with a 57.6-percent share compared to Android’s 39.1 percent, according to Strategy Analytics’ most recent numbers. In terms of year-over-year growth, the tablet space has grown by 150 percent between the end of 2010 and 2011. In other words, even if shares were more evenly split, the iPad would still be seeing big gains in unit sales.

The PC market, on the other hand, contracted by around six percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to research firm Gartner. That’s despite 20 percent growth by Apple’s own Mac line of computers. Kevin Tofel recently pointed out here on GigaOM that half of computing device sales are now mobile. If the trend of growing tablet and smartphone sales continue, and PC sales continue to decline, we’ll soon be in a position where mobiles are considered a primary device by the majority of users.

Apple will continue to sell iPads. A new refresh expected in the coming months might even help it turn the tide of slipping market share, since while the low-cost Kindle Fire may be a success, other Android tablet makers still seem to be having a hard time putting out a product consumers can get genuinely excited about. Kevin wrote last week about how Android 4.0, while it improves the Android tablet experience, still has a lot of glaring pain points. Also, Android’s tablet-specific app library lags considerably behind Apple’s, and isn’t catching up anywhere near as fast as the market on the smartphone side.

The companies putting out Android tablets that fail to achieve the Kindle Fire’s level of success are the same ones being hurt by the slowing PC market, and they’re the ones that stand to lose the most. Amazon’s Kindle fire has reportedly sold as many as 6 million units through the end of 2011, according to estimates, which would make it the world’s best-selling Android tablet.

Apple continues to appeal to a steadily growing audience of tablet users, but Amazon is answering the call of those who were happier buying bargain-priced netbooks for their basic computing needs, rather than spending more on an iPad. That’s the market PC makers should have been trying to retain with their own tablet efforts, and also the one Amazon has positioned itself best to appeal to.

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Both Android and iPhone devices had best-ever quarters, according to AT&T, but the launch of the 4S clearly helped Apple’s push ahead. In fact, AT&T’s iPhone sales alone during the quarter represent a higher number than AT&T’s previous quarterly record of 6.1 million for total combined smartphone sales across all types of devices.

AT&T attributes the success of the iPhone on its network to its faster data network, since it is the only U.S. carrier that offers HSPA+ speeds for the iPhone 4S. It definitely did post more sales than Verizon, which reported earlier that it sold 4.2 million iPhones during its fourth quarter. Whatever the reason, the success of the device on AT&T’s network definitely contributed significantly to Apple’s total of 37 million iPhones during its most recent quarter.

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Enterprise mobile security provider Good Technology on Wednesday released its quarterly data report for the fourth quarter of 2011. The report detailed the progress of iOS and Android devices in enterprise activations among its customers, which include half the companies on the Fortune 100, among others. Apple’s iPhone 4S was the big winner of the quarter, nabbing the top spot as the most-activated device, followed by the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

Credit: Good Technology

The 4S represented 31 percent of all device activations counted during the quarter, nearly matching the total for all Android handsets, which accounted for 35 percent of all smartphone activations. Apple’s iPad 2 and iPad together accounted for 94 percent of all tablet activations.

Much like we’ve seen with new consumer device purchases, the release of Apple’s iPhone 4S in October began the reversal of a trend in which new Android activations were approaching Apple’s numbers, as you can see in the chart below. From October to December, Good saw a steady monthly increase in the percentage of iOS activations, matched by a decrease in Android device activations. Good says bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies likely had a strong impact on Apple’s enterprise success with the iPhone 4S.

Credit: Good Technology

A new phone from Apple was bound to incite a buying spree, but the numbers have remained strong in the months following launch. It will be interesting to see if the trend of growth continues, both in the consumer and enterprise markets, now that the 4S has been on the market for some time.

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Demand for the iPhone 4S helped Apple’s U.S. share of the smartphone market climb to 44.9 percent in the last quarter of 2011, Kantar said, doubling from the same period a year ago and gaining a very slight edge over Google’s platform. Android slipped to 44.8 percent from 50 percent during the quarter.

Apple’s success isn’t isolated to the U.S., either. Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar’s global consumer insight director told Reuters, ”overall, Apple sales are now growing faster than Android across the nine countries we cover,” which include the U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil and Mexico, among others.

Other research firms have recently released data suggesting that iOS was rapidly closing the distance with its Android smartphone rivals. The NPD Group and Nielsen  both released their own studies earlier this month that showed iOS trailing Android slightly in the U.S. smartphone race, but Kantar’s is the first to put Apple on top.

In the U.K., Apple grew its share from 34 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 22 percent for the same period in 2010. And while Apple grew most quickly in the countries covered, Kantar is quick to point out smartphones are experiencing strong growth in all the areas tested, meaning while Android may have dropped market share in some locations, that doesn’t necessarily translate to a drop in sales.

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Stock prices may have been buoyed by news that Apple continues to regain mobile market share based on the strength of its iPhone 4S sales. Nielsen reported Wednesday morning that since the introduction of the 4S, Apple’s share of the smartphone market has climbed steadily in the U.S. The Nielsen report’s findings are very similar to U.S. smartphone numbers released by NPD last week.

Apple also has an earnings call scheduled for Jan. 24, at which many analysts expect the company to announce record sales across its device lineups. We’ll likely see some numbers revealed early at tomorrow’s special education event in NYC on Thursday, since Apple typically spends some time at media presentations talking up recent successes and revealing information like up-to-date App Store download numbers, for example. We’ll have live coverage of that event beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

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The survey of more than 1,000 respondents conducted in November also found that Google is a strong contender for being perceived as current and relevant, since it placed second. Microsoft came in fourth, and non-tech firms occupied the majority of the remaining top 10 positions.

Ipsos notes that the “leading edge” quality has a big impact on the perception of overall brand influence, and one that serves companies well. According to Ipsos Reid President Steve Levy, “while being seen as leading edge is only one factor in brand influence it is definitely one of the most important, something that Apple has recognized and excelled at achieving.”

RIM’s absence is telling, but not unexpected. The company’s devices are no longer seen as cutting edge tech, and the brand’s image can’t be dealing with its fast-fading fortunes very well. RIM still has a huge customer base, but its significance in the important U.S. market is tanking, and doesn’t look likely to ever catch up to Android or iOS again.

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It is a trend that already appears to be in motion: Ryan Kim wrote about how, according to the latest NPD numbers, Apple’s iOS mobile platform made big strides in closing the gap between itself and Android in recent months. The Yankee Group survey anticipates that this will continue: While a quarter of those it surveyed already own an iPhone, 35 percent said they planned on getting one within six months’ time. The Yankee Group’s study echoes results from ChangeWave that we wrote about earlier, but it covers a wider user base, time period and focus on platforms instead of individual handset makers.

Android is and will remain strong in terms of consumer interest, according to the survey, but it won’t put any more distance between it and Apple. Nearly 40 percent of respondents indicated that they already own an Android device, but just the same amount said they planned on getting one within the next six months; in other words, Android won’t drop share to Apple if people stay true to their buying plans, but it won’t expand its current reach in the U.S.

The real losers, however, are the smartphone platforms that account for less than 20 percent of today’s market share, since, according to the survey, their percentage will only continue to slide. Yankee Group predicts that only 12 percent of respondents intend to buy a BlackBerry in the next six months, despite that 20 percent of those surveyed already own one. Interest in Windows Phone devices similarly drops from a current high of 14 percent to only 9 percent’s intending to purchase one within six months’ time. Of course, this is based on consumer perception of the field as it stands: New devices, changes to software and pricing could always alter buying plans.

Overall, Yankee Group predicts that smartphone ownership should increase, since only 47 percent of those polled currently own one but 58 percent indicated intent to purchase one within the next six months. Yankee Group expects the smartphone market to surge to 175 million devices in the U.S. by 2015, up from 91.4 million as of Nov. 2011.

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The survey from ChangeWave, which gathered results from Dec. 2011, found that 54 percent of those polled said they intended to get a smartphone from Apple, compared with just 13 percent for Samsung, Apple’s next closest competitor. The iPhone lost ground compared to the same survey taken in Sept. 2011, however, and Samsung gained a number of potential customers. In the earlier survey, which came prior to the iPhone 4S’ official unveiling, 65 percent said they wanted an Apple device while only 5 percent were after a Samsung phone.

Motorola also gained some potential customers, increasing from 5 percent in September to 7 percent in December. HTC and BlackBerry rounded out the top five, but each suffered a drop in demand. Apple’s demand suffered the biggest percentage point loss, but ChangeWave says its numbers are actually higher than usual following a major product release.

Typically, demand for an Apple device peaks just prior to a new device’s unveiling and tails off considerably once the shipping product hits the market. According to ChangeWave, the 11-point dip is actually much less striking than usual; in fact, the company notes that “Apple has never dominated smart phone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release.”

Also, Apple’s customer satisfaction remains high in this survey, with 75 percent’s saying they are “very satisfied” with their devices. Samsung and HTC phones are in a distant second-place tie for satisfaction, each with 47 percent’s reporting being “very satisfied.” ChangeWave says customer satisfaction is a key factor in deciding which phone customers end up planning to buy during their next purchase.

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The study found the iPad represented 19 percent of total App Store downloads since the device’s launch, and the iPad reached the 3 billion mark around six months faster than the iPhone, which took two years to register that many app downloads. The iPad outperformed its internal competition, but it obliterated external challengers: ABIresearch says Android tablet devices have only seen around 400 million downloads to date.

ABI associate Lim Shiyang belives that Android’s significant deficit when it comes to dedicated tablet app downloads is at least in part attributable to OS fragmentation. According to Shiyang:

Many Android tablets in the market are still using older versions of Android, which disadvantages users from enjoying the better effects of apps produced from more advanced software development kits.

More choice and better quality overall also contribute to Apple’s advantage, ABI says, pointing out that during the third quarter of 2011, there were 120,000 apps published specifically for the iPad platform. Compare that to 400,000 total titles available on the Android Market for both smartphone and tablet devices, according to figures released Wednesday.

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iPhone

Apple’s next iPhone is one many probably feel we’ve already seen in previews, since the rumor mill prior to the release of the iPhone 4S was focused more on the so-called iPhone 5. A lot of what was said about that device should probably come to pass when we do get a new iPhone next year, which Apple could well call the iPhone 5.

A release in fall is probably in the cards, since Apple would gain little by releasing a new iPhone in the early summer so soon after unveiling the iPhone 4S, so it’s hard to pin down anything definite about the device at this point; a lot can change in mobile in nearly a year, after all. But there are a few safe bets regarding Apple’s next smartphone.

First, expect an A6 processor, possibly quad-core, powering the device. Also, a larger screen and a new physical case design are almost guaranteed. I don’t think Apple would go the route of the Android-makers with anything gigantic, but a respectable 4-inch display seems likely. And while LTE still isn’t a guarantee, it’s a good bet for 2012. Near-field communication (NFC) is less certain to make the cut, since that tech still has a long way to go before (if) it goes mainstream.

iPod

Making predictions about Apple’s iPod line is definitely tough. The media player got virtually no changes in 2011 compared to 2010, and its impact on Apple’s overall revenue picture continues to dwindle. The iPod touch is still an important part of the lineup, but even its future might become a question sometime in the next couple of years.

In 2012, I see Apple finally putting its iPod classic to rest, and maybe the shuffle, too. The iPod touch will likely get the spec bump it missed this year, bringing it closer to the current iPhone 4S in terms of wireless radios and processing power, and possibly a physical redesign, too. The real question mark, and maybe Apple’s greatest opportunity to shake up the media player market, is the iPod nano.

Users have been looking for an update that brings Bluetooth on-board with the diminutive nano, making it compatible with wireless headphones (better when worn on the wrist) and possibly enabling a live data connection between it and the iPhone. I suspect that Apple skipped a proper update for the nano this year because it’s actually working on making the nano the perfect connected companion for the iPhone, thanks to Bluetooth 4.0 tech, but we’ll see in 2012 whether or not that’s the case.

iPad

Rumors about the iPad 3 are already swirling, since it seems on track for an early 2012 release. I think we’ll see it arrive around the same time as last year’s iPad 2, so between February and March, complete with the Retina Display users have been looking for since the iPhone 4′s release.

What else will the iPad 3 offer? That’s a good question, and one that hasn’t really been addressed all that much in early reports. Its features will be dictated largely by what the market demands, which shouldn’t be much judging by the current tablet market picture. In 2011, Apple ruled the tablet market without a real competitor in sight. In 2012, it will have low-cost alternatives nipping at its heels, but it still isn’t looking at any competitors who are truly shaking up the space.

As a result, I’d expect to see an iPad 3 that resembles its predecessor in most regards, with the aforementioned improved screen, as well as a slimmer design and maybe a longer lasting battery. Apple has the right recipe for success in other regards, and the iPad 3 isn’t really crying out for camera improvements or additional wireless tech. Adoption of Bluetooth 4.0 is probably also on tap, as well as an upgraded A6 processor, but I wouldn’t expect much else.

Instead of making dramatic changes or additions to the iPad, expect Apple to offer a low-cost option in the form of the iPad 2, likely limited to either 8 or 16 GB of onboard storage. And as much as I and Kevin admire the smaller, 7-inch form factor, I think Apple might keep that one in reserve for at least another year.

Macs

In 2012, iDevices won’t be the only devices getting big upgrades. Apple’s Mac division is still a big revenue driver for the company, and in the new year I expect them to focus on the products that will have the biggest role in the future of computing. The MacBook Air is the crucial device here, but iMacs, too, should be in for big changes.

The MacBook Air is Apple’s most forward-looking Mac, and it has plenty of room to grow. In 2011, the 11- and 13-inch form factors got even better thanks to much-needed processor upgrades and the addition of Thunderbolt tech. In 2012, I expect Apple to expand the line as it moves to push aside the MacBook Pro in terms of its importance to Apple’s notebook offerings. So a 15-inch Air is likely, as well as more substantial improvements to the 11- and 13-inch devices, aimed at shoring up their remaining weaknesses: battery life and storage. Higher resolution displays are another definite possibility.

As Apple’s strongest desktop product, expect iMacs to get significant updates in 2012, both externally and on the inside, too. The current iMac case design is getting a little long in the tooth, and is overdue for an update. Intel has new processors that will likely make their way into Macs in the works, and we should see them in the second quarter of 2012, so expect new iMacs around then, too. Other changes might include high-res displays like those that could make their way to the notebook line, and solid state storage as the default option on some models.

As to the rest of the Mac line, I’d expect to see upgrades for the Mac mini, but not necessarily any big improvements for the Mac Pro. Apple is clearly focusing on consumer products, and it could let its more powerful desktops languish again as a result.

Apple TV

It’s the last big question mark for Apple’s 2012 plans, the mythical iTV. I think we’ll see Apple make its move here, and introduce a television set late in the year, complete with a full App Store, Siri controls and iCloud support. Whether or not we’ll see its set-top Apple TV gets a similar upgrade strikes me as less certain, but since it could act as a gateway device the way the iPod touch does for the iPhone and iPad, I think we’ll see that, too.

This is the rough roadmap I see in place for Apple’s 2012 product plans. Predicting Apple’s plans is likely a fool’s game, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. Let us know what you think is coming out of Cupertino in the comments.

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Source: Fiksu

That’s a 15 percent increase over the same stat as measured in October, when the App Store saw 4.91 million downloads per day among the top-ranked free apps. Before that, downloads had been declining slowly since June 2011, a lull some attributed to the release date of the iPhone 4S, which came months later than Apple’s usual annual smartphone refreshes.

Fiksu says that the introduction and rapid adoption of iOS 5 also helped downloads climb, due in part to a slew of app updates from developers designed to bring software up to spec for the new mobile OS. Downloads for November were a full 83 percent higher than at the same time in 2010, as a result of the combined factors of the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 launches.

Apple’s software market will continue to see benefits from the iPhone 4S launch, Fiksu expects especially since most analysts are now predicting that Apple will sell 30 million or more iPhones in the quarter covering the end of the 2011 calendar year. But what’ll be more interesting to watch is how app downloads perform over the course of the next year; Apple has changed up its release timeline, and that means it’ll be harder for consumers to predict when the next iteration of the iPhone arrives. As a result, the rumor mill could have a stronger impact on determining app market fluctuations.

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