The major benefits of the iPhone app are that you get to experience a variety of different dial designs in one place, and that it only costs $0.99 (or free for a more limited version), as opposed to the hundreds you’ll spend on an actual Nooka watch.

The Nooka app provides a basic local time clock, with three different faces to choose from, as well as a world clock, stopwatch and timer. For all of the above, you can choose the color of the clock’s background and time indicator elements using a simple color picker. The app works in both portrait and landscape orientation, which makes it a great candidate for a desk or bedside clock, although the presence of an alarm function would really help that, as would an interface tweak to hide the status bar when the clock is active.

Even though I’d like to see those features added in an update, the Nooka app is definitely cool as-is, and fans of good design and visually intuitive time-telling will not regret the $0.99 purchase price.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide
• CES 2012: a recap and analysis

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.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes
• Mobile Q4: The scramble for spectrum continues

The headrest mount, which works with Wallee’s existing iPad case mounting system, attaches to the headrest rail of any vehicle, and rotates in and out to provide viewing to one or more unruly kids who need entertaining in the back seat on long trips. It’s a simple, sturdy design in and of itself, but it’s really more impressive as the latest proof that Wallee’s creators at Studio Proper are into delivering long-term value rather than chasing short-term gain.

A lot of my favorite cases for the original iPad, including the ZAGGmate iPad keyboard case, required me to buy a new version in order to play nice with the iPad 2. The Wallee also required a new case, but it stung much less since all the accessories the case is designed to work with remained useful. Wall mounting disks, stands and a VESA mount still work with the new iPad 2 version of the Wallee case, and recent additions to the line, including a hand strap for easy one-handed use, and the upcoming Wallee Lock for secure, interactive iPad-based displays mean investment in the system continues to feel fresh, two years after the original Wallee’s introduction.

Most mobile device users will likely go through piles of device accessories that quickly become as outdated as the gadgets they’re designed for, so it’s nice to see a system that embraces and builds on its past, rather than simply starting fresh with each new whim of Apple’s design department.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Will cloud computing push the BRIC market to the front?
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

Remarks, like PDF Expert, offers PDF annotation and filling tools, but it’s a much more streamlined tool than that app, with a focus on making it easy to mark up and share documents, as well as create your own notes and notebooks independent of any pre-existing PDFs that can also be marked up and shared with other Remarks users for collaborative work.

Remarks is that rare beast among PDF tools, either on or off the iPad: it features a simple, straightforward interface and everything work very quickly, with speedy response times for turning pages, adding notes, and basically anything else you’d want to do. Tools, including pens, highlighters, preset shapes and text entry, are clearly labeled with simple icons, and there’s no visual clutter or wealth of unnecessary options to distract you from what you actually need to get done.

Sharing may be one of Remarks’ best feature. Using email, you can easily share documents with other Remarks users, including annotated PDFs and notes created in the app itself. But in an upcoming update, Readdle is planning to introduce Dropbox, Box.net and other cloud storage sharing options, too, making it even more convenient for doing collaborative work.

Paired with a Bluetooth keyboard or stylus, Remarks is even more useful. It features effective accidental touch or wrist-detection, meaning you can write naturally with a stylus without worrying about drawing in the wrong place, and regular Mac key shortcuts like Command+C, Command+V and Command+A work with keyboard text input.

Remarks allows flexibility in creating notes and notebooks, allowing you to rearrange pages as you add them or after the fact, but it doesn’t overwhelm with options like other iPad notebook offerings. And since it’s also a full-fledged PDF annotation tool, and one that can be used collaboratively, it’s probably one of the most versatile iPad apps for students, and a fairly inexpensive one at $4.99.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• A field guide to cloud computing: current trends, future opportunities
• The rise of tablets in the enterprise

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.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• LTE changes everything; LTE changes nothing
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Will cloud computing push the BRIC market to the front?

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.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• When video gets democratized, who wins and who loses?
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Nguyen goes into a lot of detail, and it’s a must-read for anyone thinking about commissioning an iOS (or really any mobile OS) application. Here’s one passage in particular that I know will resonate with a lot of freelance devs:

Converting an iPhone app to iPhone/iPad universal app: This is the worst ‘additional feature’ found in iPhone development contracts. Because an iPad app is not a frikin’ additional feature. The iPad app is always more complex than iPhone app, and most of the time requires entirely different interface and interaction mechanism. It’s like making an electric bicycle and then convert[ing] it to a fuel-powered motorcycle! They are very similar at what they do, but under the hood, the difference is immense. [Emphasis in the original]

A lot of companies may be interested in what an app can do for their business, but without a good sense of what kind of resources need to be invested in order to create the app in the first place, there is bound to be ample frustration on all sides. Nguyen’s no-nonsense primer is a good way to help avoid some of that frustration.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• 12 tech leaders’ resolutions for 2012

The GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter isn’t exactly cheap at $99.99, but it’s still a far cry cheaper than most currently available dedicated Thunderbolt drives. At Apple’s online store, for instance, you’re looking at spending $499.95 just to get in on the ground floor with LaCie’s 1TB Little Big Disk Thunderbolt drive. By contrast, you can get a GoFlex 1TB drive starting at $159.99, plus the adapter for $99.99, bringing you to just under $250. Both solutions also require you to purchase a $49 Thunderbolt cable separately, of course, but at least pricing for Thunderbolt solutions is headed in the right direction for wider consumer adoption.

GoFlex’s option also works with their line of GoFlex-branded portable drives, so you actually only have to buy one adapter to use it with multiple drives. There are some caveats, however. The adapter doesn’t offer Thunderbolt daisy-chaining, but on the plus side, it also doesn’t need an external power source.

The other limit is that transfer speeds are capped by the drive’s capability. Macworld ran some real-world usage benchmark tests and found that while the 5,400 RPM drive found in Seagate’s Ultra-portable line transferred data faster on Thunderbolt than on FireWire 800, the gains weren’t huge. But with 7,200 RPM drives like those in Seagate’s higher-end GoFlex externals, you’ll see more benefits from the Thunderbolt adapter.

At $300 total before taxes for a 1TB drive, Thunderbolt adapter and Apple Thunderbolt cable, I still wouldn’t call this drive solution cheap, but it definitely lowers the barrier for entry. The upside is that you can add additional drives for much less after you have the adapter and cable, so long as Seagate keeps its GoFlex interface spec the same for future devices. That makes this probably the most consumer-friendly Thunderbolt storage solution we’ve seen to date.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Will cloud computing push the BRIC market to the front?
• Why the big data startup boom will likely be short-lived
• A clouded view of Google Music

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?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected Consumer 2012: A year of consolidation and integration
• Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE

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.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• U.S. Wireless Data Market: Q4 and Year-End 2008
• LTE changes everything; LTE changes nothing
• Updated: Forecast: global mobile subscribers, 2010–2015

The two big new features in the 10.0.3 update, which is free through the Mac App Store, are multicam editing, allowing users to automatically sync a maximum of 64 angles of video and photos, and a beta version of a broadcast monitoring feature that works with both Thunderbolt and PCIe cards. The removal of multi-camera editing was a major complaint among FCP 7 video editors, since it made combining photo and video from multiple camera sources a much more complicated process.

In addition to those new features, the update also brings improved image and color controls, including the introduction of color sampling, edge adjustment and light wrap editing abilities, which means you’ll be able to depend more on FCP X directly, and less on external programs like Motion when working with complex keying challenges, Apple said in its press release.

Apple also took the opportunity of the release to point out that the third-party application ecosystem for FCPX has grown considerably in recent months, and now includes tools like 7toX, which allows FCP7 projects to be imported to the newer software. The inability to import old projects in FCPX was another of the major complaints users had with the latest version.

Apple promised updates to answer a lot of user concerns with the software back when version 10.0.1 delivered XML support, and judging by a recent Ars Technica report on the continued reticence of video pros to use the software, the sooner it can deliver more updates like this one that address major pain points cited by users, the better.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Flash analysis: Steve Jobs
• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

Samsung has already sidestepped the initial injunction against the Tab 10.1 by releasing the Tab 10.1N in the German market, which features a redesigned case that avoids infringing on Apple’s community design patent. The ruling on Tuesday was based on a violation of German unfair competition law, Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents notes, and not on the original community design the injunction was issued for.

Mueller thinks that the win in the Düsseldorf appeals court is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the ruling is obviously in Apple’s favor. On the other, it doesn’t necessarily apply to the redesigned Samsung 10-inch tablet, so there is no guarantee it will have any commercial impact for Apple. Also, the full-blown proceeding still has to happen, and that’s where the more important matter of Apple’s design patent will take place. Finally, Mueller says that in general, design-related lawsuits will probably have much less of an impact on the final outcome of the intellectual property value between the two companies than technical patent infringement claims, because they are relatively easy to work around.

In what may end up being a much more significant problem for Samsung, Tuesday also saw the announcement of a full-blown investigation of Samsung’s use of its patents, which fall under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) licensing requirements. The European Commission had this to say in its formal press release on the issue:

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Samsung Electronics has abusively, and in contravention of a commitment it gave to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules.

Samsung will now face a formal inquiry regarding its claims of infringement on patents deemed to be essential in the EU. The action was likely prompted by Samsung’s infringement claims against Apple, which it went after in multiple EU courts regarding patents carrying FRAND licensing requirements.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• LTE changes everything; LTE changes nothing
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Why Samsung and Tizen could take on Apple and Google

With Apple’s more than 15 million iPads shipped during the quarter, the worldwide PC market grew 16 percent year over year. Not counting tablets, of which the iPad is easily the most successful, the PC market actually shrank by 0.4 percent worldwide when compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Canalys data.

Apple’s success both with the iPad and its Mac computers allowed it to take top honors for the quarter, knocking HP to second place overall. Canalys says the lack of a valid HP tablet competitor, now that the TouchPad is shelved, will mean that HP will continue to struggle against Apple’s success.

The iPad wasn’t the only tablet to do well during the quarter, however. Canalys says that the Amazon Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet also helped contribute to the success of tablets in the U.S. Amazon ranked as the second strongest tablet manufacturer worldwide, while Barnes & Noble took the fourth place spot.

All told, iPads accounted for 22 percent of all worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2011, as measured by Canalys. It’ll be interesting to see what effect a new iPad launch in the coming months might have on the worldwide momentum of tablets, and the larger PC industry.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Will cloud computing push the BRIC market to the front?
• A clouded view of Google Music
• Mobile Q4: The scramble for spectrum continues

Like the iPhone SJ concept before it, De Rosa’s iWatch 2 (which is itself a refresh of an older iWatch design) looks like something that you could easily imagine gracing the desk of Apple design guru Jony Ive at this very moment: It has the aluminum and glass appeal of the iPhone 4 and 4S, along with an on-screen UI that looks convincingly iOS inspired.

De Rosa says the watch’s imaginary specs include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, the latter to provide a steady feed of data from a connected iPhone or iPad, along with a standalone RSS reader and front-facing camera. He also adds an LCD projector to the list, because why not?

While I don’t expect to see anything quite so feature-rich come out of Cupertino, I do think De Rosa is on the right track; an Apple-created connected watch would no doubt have similar good looks, a minimum of buttons and the ability to connect to iOS devices to grab and display information feeds. But Apple also is notorious for keeping its product lines tight, so such a device, which would admittedly probably have limited appeal initially (will iPhone buyers really want to spend an additional $200+ for what’s essentially a secondary display?) likely isn’t a top priority.

Regardless of what Apple actually has planned in the way of wearable wrist-top computing, I still want this concept to fly out of my dreams and on to my wrist. What about you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• Mobile Q4: The scramble for spectrum continues

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.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• LTE changes everything; LTE changes nothing
• Envisioning future strategies for Sony’s success