As we approach the end of the year, many of us reflect upon some of top stories that made the top headlines the past several months such as the Casey Anthony trial, the death of Osama Bin Laden and the earthquake in Japan. But in terms of the recent news released on top Google searches for the year, 2011 was the year of Apple Inc. In fact the Cupertino based technology company had 3 of the top 10 Google searches for the year: the iPhone 5 at #6, Steve Jobs at #9 and the iPad 2 at #10.
The biggest story stemming from the Cupertino based technology company this year was the sad passing of its co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs from his long bout with pancreatic cancer. Establishing Apple Computer in the late 1970s, Jobs was one of the leading pioneers of the development of personal computing and was also CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which under his leadership has become one of the most widely respected animation studios in the world. Prior to his acquisition of Pixar from Lucasfilm Ltd., Jobs was unceremoniously booted out by Apple executives in the 1980s, but came back in the late 1990s to lead the company from near collapse to the incredible success it now enjoys. Today Apple Inc. is one of the wealthiest companies in the world in terms of market capitalization. Much of its enormous success can be credited to Jobs’ and his talented group of engineers who first introduced the iPod 10 years ago and regained credibility by owning most of the market share of MP3 players. I hate to say it, but the rest, they say, is history.
Technology experts, analysts, journalists and bloggers all awaited the highly anticipated release of the iPhone 5 in the 4th quarter of 2011 but Apple surprised many of its fans by releasing the previously unheard of iPhone 4S, which features the much talked about Siri personal assistant software. Despite the emerging popularity of the iPhone 4S, there has been some criticism with the Siri function in that it can only recognize American English as opposed to British English or users who have an accent, its in ability to respond commands and the occasional incorrect search result. Despite some of the flaws of the iPhone 4S, Apple still had record sales of its new smart phone and the expected release of the iPhone 5 should even be more popular and hopefully the Siri feature will be much more polished by then.
Well before the introduction of the iPad 2 in March 2011, Apple had the best selling tablet computer in its predecessor, the original iPad. The iPad 2 has become an even bigger success due to its reduction in weight and faster processor from the 1st generation units. Tablet computers are now outselling laptop computers and Apple continues to enjoy well more than 50% of all tablet computers sold today. Like the iPhone 5, many fans are anxiously waiting for the release of the latest must have device from Apple Inc.
2011 has been a very successful yet poignant year for Apple and indications are evident that 2012 will be just as successful despite losing its widely regarded CEO and co-founder. Steve Jobs leaves behind an everlasting legacy and one of his most memorable quotes was to former Apple CEO John Sculley who was a President of Pepsi, “do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world?” I think Steve Jobs did indeed change the world and it’s a shame he won’t be around to see the future innovations of Apple I