There are no doubts-- it has been quite a full year. From natural disasters to protests and ousted dictators, there was truly something for everyone on the headlines. And as for our business, well, we're about to take a look at what went on during past 12 months, with a Top 11 for 2011...
1. Farewell, Steve Jobs: The biggest story this year was certainly the untimely demise of Steve Jobs at age 56, following a 7 year struggle with cancer. During those years, Apple brought us the iPhone and the iPad. Jobs had already stepped down as Apple CEO on Aug. 24th 2011... and most of us knew the only only reason he would walk away from the company would be his ultimate demise.
One cannot understimate Jobs' effect on the industry-- his return to Apple in 1997 turned a company Jobs himself described as weeks away from bankruptcy into one of the the biggest in the world (and the biggest for a few weeks), fuelling customers' lusts for technology in the process.
2. Motorola Mobility goes Google: Is Google planning to duplicate Apple's success in hardware, or simply hoarding patents (of which Motorola Mobility owns 24500?). Either way, Google will now be able to make a whole variety of devices-- not only smartphones and tablets, but also Bluetooth-based accessories and, more importantly STBs. Google insists Motorola Mobility will be run as a separate entity and Android will remain open source-- but one has to read between the lines...