Mention Nokia and the discussion turns to courtroom battles and two-way animosity between the Finnish cell phone giant and Apple. However, in a bit of refreshing candor, a French Nokia executive recently told an audience: “Apple is a must-have in US and EU.”

Nokia’s Cedric Thomas told the gathering of media content developers at MIPCOM that while Nokia is still a key player in Asia and Europe, Apple dominates the app landscape in the United States and the EU. Indeed, a recent survey found the share of iOS-based devices in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain grew 5.3 percent compared to a year ago, while Nokia’s Symbian platform dropped 14.4 percent over the same period. While Thomas, who heads Nokia’s Ovi marketplace in France, touted news that the company’s store now has 2.5 million downloads per day, the number pales in comparison to the 16.6 million apps downloaded each day from Apple’s App Store.

We absolutely loved that fantastic chart we posted yesterday showing off the litigious melee amongst smartphone companies as they all try to figure out which of their thousands of patents are enforceable and which are nonsense… but, infographically, it was a bit ugly, like a particularly inelegant illustration of magnetic repulsion found in a 70s-era high school physics book.

The updated chart by George Kokkinidis above conveys the same information more attractively, with clean geometric precision, sexy fonts and color coded arcs.

We approve. Maybe the Guardian should hire this guy instead of doing all of their infographics in Powerpoint ’97.

Take a look at the litigious melee going on among companies trying to squeeze profits out of the mobile communications landscape. It’s a wonder we have phones and operating systems at all, isn’t it?

Interestingly, the one suit against Google by Oracle is somewhat misleading, given that many of the suits represented by the flying arrows in the graphic relate to Google’s Android operating system, including all of the ones filed by Microsoft.

Microsoft, with its Windows Mobile 7 OS about to ship, is asserting intellectual property infringement cases against Motorola and HTC, claiming Google’s Android operating system runs afoul of patents it holds for several important tasks handled by today’s new generation of smart phones. Specifically the software giant says Android copies its patented methods for handling email, contacts and calendar synchronisation, scheduling meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal and battery strength.

Via [The Guardian]

Computer component supplier SinTek Photronics wants no part of a rumor it is involved in building a touchscreen iMac. The denial follows a recent report the company was sampling capacitive touch panels for the supposed Apple device. The denial follows a report by a Taiwanese industry publication claiming the new desktop unit would offer touchscreens of 20 inches and more.

Earlier this month, the publication said SinTek had “a good chance” of supplying the new iMac.

New details emerged Friday on Apple’s apparent plans to offer a touchscreen iMac. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is testing samples of capacitive touch panels for a lighter and thinner desktop model with at least a 20-inch screen. The report that Apple is still considering touch panel designs may indicate a new iMac will not appear before 2011.

“The new iMac is rumored to have a good vertical and horizontal viewing angle, and its projected capacitive touch panel will adopt a one-glass solution, which integrates the touch sensor and cover glass, to reduce thickness and weight,” according to Taiwan-based industry publication DigiTimes. Apple’s tests involve samples from Sintek Photronics, which the report suggests “has a good chance” of becoming the supplier for the new iMac models.

Last time we heard about the iControlPad, the long-delayed physical gamepad for the iPhone and iPod Touch had finally completed its two-and-a-half year journey from the brainpan of its makers to their hands as the very first model dropped off the production lines… now boasting a modular design that would allow the iControlPad to be easily updated to support future iOS handhelds. Since the official site was about to start taking preorders for the first 3,000 units, we imagined that the iControlPad was pretty much done.

Apparently not, though. As fallout to Cupertino’s recent decision to sue Sanho for using repurposed MagSafe adapters and iPod Dock Connectors in their line of HyperMac batteries, the iControlPad team has apparently gotten nervous about connecting the gamepad through the iPhone’s dock connector. Instead, they are looking to switch over to Bluetooth support.

Back in May, Apple passed Microsoft as the most valuable technology company in the world based upon market capitalization, but the lead was slim, putting Microsoft just $2.94 billion down of Apple’s $222.12 billion. What’s the race look like now?

Well, here’s a hint: since May, Apple has released a new AppleTV, iPhone and iPod Touch while Microsoft has released… nothing. No surprise then that Apple’s now increased its lead over Microsoft to an astonishing $49.53 billion. Apple is now worth $263.75 billion… making it only $52.47 billion shy of displacing Exxon as the most valuable American company.

Curiously, there’s one number that Apple is behind on: patents. In the past eight years, Apple has secured only 1,033 patents, while Microsoft has gone on the offensive, racking up over 8,000 in five years alone. Even Dell has more patents than Apple. If only number of patents alone was an accurate measure of innovation, Dell stock would be a good investment right now.

Apple is again challenging Nokia in court, this time on its home turf, Europe. The Cupertino, Calif. company Tuesday filed suit against the Finnish cell phone giant, claiming Nokia violated the same 9 patents which led to an ongoing legal battle in U.S. courts.

The patents cover technology related to GSM and wireless transmissions. While Apple had no comment on why it filed a UK lawsuit, Nokia told Reuters it was investigating the claims. The two companies expect to wait until 2012 before a U.S. court takes up the case. The U.S. International Trade Commission told both companies the body will look into both complaints.

As I once discovered through unfortunate and unspeakable accident, iPods do not react well when they are dropped in the drink… or, in my case, the toilet. Oh, sure, the flash memory can technically be dunked and will function again as long as it doesn’t short out, but the other electronics aren’t nearly as resilient to wetness without shorting.

That can make the iPod a bad fit not just for clumsy urinators, but more importantly for swimmers. Luckily, there’s H20 Audio to the rescue, a company that specializes in headphones and cases for people who want to listen to tunes while they do laps. They’ve just released the Amphibx Grip for the new iPod nano or Shuffle: a completely watertight case that is fully submersible up to twelve feet thanks to their patented LatchTight locking closure. You can even use the nano’s touchscreen while in the pool through the pane.

The Amphibx Grip is available now directly from H20 Audio and costs $59.99. You can use your own headphones, if you’ve got a waterproof pair, but if you want H20’s own, they’ll cost you another $59.99.

Look at any of Apple’s newest iPods — the new Shuffle, the touchscreen nano, the iPod Touch — and you will find three devices as tiny, svelte or both as Cupertino can possibly make them. In fact, all of these devices are scarcely thicker at this point than the width of their widest single element —the 3.5mm audio jack — which means that if they are ever going to lose any more chunk, that audio jack is going to need to get even smaller.

It turns out that is exactly what Apple is currently working on, according to a recently filed patent. The new audio jacks uses deflectable “pogo pins”, instead of the usual cantilever beams which extend into a jack cavity and are pushed out of the way when your headphone plug is inserted, allowing audio and electricity to be transmitted.