The Top 10 Tech Stories of 2011

From the TouchPad to the iPad, Steve Jobs to the fictional "iPhone 5," 2011 had its share of major tech stories. We lost an icon, debated the merits of Android vs. iOS, saw a few notable companies struggle through major PR snafus, and witnessed more than one battle play out in the courts and on Capitol Hill. Barring the release of a new Apple product, a huge merger, or a major privacy gaffe in the next few days, here are the biggest tech news stories of 2011, as well as a few honorable mentions.

10. Google+
Google might be the king of search, but prior to June 2011, its social efforts had been less than spectacular. No one really understood what Google Wave was all about and Google Buzz was mired in privacy-related concerns, culminating in a Federal Trade Commission settlement. But this summer, Google took a few pages from Facebook's playbook and . Many features were reminiscent of Facebook, but also incorporated the concept of "Circles" for grouping friends, as well as group video chats known as Hangouts. Google+ launched with a limited beta, and a Google+ invite the hottest ticket in town. It in September, and Google CEO Larry Page said a month later that the service had at least 40 million users. Since then, Google has incorporated a number of its services into Google+, including Reader and YouTube, eventually to focus on Google+.

9. Apple Goes to War Over Patents
Apple is not kidding around when it comes to patents. Cupertino filed suit against Motorola and HTC last year, arguing that the companies used its technologies in their devices. But things really got ugly this year when for "slavishly" copying the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy line of devices. Since April, when Apple first filed its suit, the two companies have filed more than two dozen lawsuits against each other around the globe. Apple has been successful in getting the temporarily banned , and got the tablet . Samsung has not had as much luck in going after Apple, with courts in and denying injunction requests against the iPhone 4S. Earlier this month, however, a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction against four Samsung products. The battle will surely continue into 2012, so stay tuned.

8. Netflix
Netflix kicked off 2011 as the company to beat: it , up from 16.9 million in October, and it the movie-streaming space. But in mid-July, it surprised (and angered) customers by announced plans to . Rather than a bundled option for one DVD and unlimited streaming for $9.99 per month, Netflix would charge $7.99 for one DVD and $7.99 for unlimited streaming, almost doubling the price of subscribing to both services. If that wasn't enough change, Netflix then announced plans to : Netflix for streaming and "Qwikster" for DVD rentals. Amidst the public backlash, and apologized for the cavalier way in which it handled the price hikes. Ultimately, however, the company's missteps , Netflix revealed during an October earnings calls. More recently, there have been reports that Verizon might acquire Netflix, but nothing has been announced.

7. What Happened, RIM?
When Research in Motion unveiled its tablet last year, expectations were high. "BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM's Revolution," PCMag's Sascha Segan . Unfortunately, the April launch wasn't a rousing success. Where was that ? Contacts apps, anyone? By May, RIM 1,000 PlayBooks due to a software glitch, Sprint the PlayBook 4G, and then the price drops started. In addition to PlayBook troubles, however, RIM was also hit with the worst BlackBerry in its history in October. The company was then sued over the use of BBX, the name for its next-gen OS, which combined elements of QNX and BlackBerry OS 7. Eventually, RIM to BlackBerry 10. By mid-December, RIM $485 million worth of PlayBooks that it was unable to sell, and delayed BlackBerry 10 phones because of component issues.

6. HP Wavers on WebOS, Consumer PCs
Like RIM, HP also unveiled its own tablet, the . But while it got good reviews, the TouchPad couldn't compete with Apple's ubiquitous . As a result, HP said in August that it would , including the TouchPad. But a funny thing happened on the way to liquidation—when the TouchPad was reduced to $99, people couldn't snap them up fast enough, and the TouchPad became the hottest ticket in town, with a recent sale crashing eBay. In August, the company also announced that it would ditch its PC business, but when Meg Whitman stepped in as CEO shortly thereafter, she announced that HP after all. Eventually, HP also decided to rather than sell to the highest bidder. Whitman recently suggested we might see , but not until 2013.

Continue Reading: PlayStation Hack, iPhone 5, More>

5. Sony PlayStation Hack
"The summer of our discontent is behind us," Sony CEO Howard Stringer said at September's IFA conference in Berlin. That discontent was, of course, was the massive hack of the company's PlayStation Network, which forced it to take the popular gaming service, and eventually Sony Online Entertainment, offline for several weeks in late April. The hack affected approximately 70 million gamers, but it was also a huge PR nightmare for Sony. The company faced over the possibility that credit card data was among the information stolen from its database, and even after the system in mid-May, it took several weeks before things were back to normal, prompting a "" package to retain users. Sony suggested that hacking group Anonymous was behind the intrusion, but the group denied any involvement. By September, a former Department of Homeland Security official to head up information security and privacy issues.

4. AT&T Fails to Acquire T-Mobile
On an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon in March, AT&T surprised the tech community when it for $39 billion. that the purchase would help stop the spectrum crunch and spur the companies' deployment of 4G service. Detractors, especially rival Sprint, countered that the deal would lead to a duopoly, with AT&T and Verizon controlling the wireless industry, and likely lead to job cuts and price hikes. By August, it was clear that the Justice Department agreed, and it , arguing that it was anti-competitive. The FCC followed up in November with a similar ruling, prompting AT&T its merger application from the commission. Those two regulatory hurdles proved too much for the troubled deal, though, and AT&T on Dec. 19 announced that it would .

3. Amazon Kindle Fire
By mid-2011, it was clear that Apple had nothing to fear with the HP TouchPad or BlackBerry PlayBook, but could Amazon change that? about an Android-based, Amazon-branded table made headlines all summer, with one analyst predicting that an Amazon tablet was the "" iPad competitor. The online retailer its Amazon tablet in late September with an enticing price point—just $199. But the 7-inch device, as well as the rival Barnes & Noble , was largely seen as a low-priced alternative to the iPad rather than a "iPad killer." There were reports of some users with their Fire purchase, but Amazon claims the devices, as well as other Kindle devices, are flying off the shelves at a rate of "" one million per week.

2. No iPhone 5
The first mention of an "iPhone 5" on PCMag came , and throughout 2011, there were at least 92 more stories with "iPhone 5" in the headline. But when Apple finally in October, it launched the , a device identical on the outside to the iPhone 4, but with a dual-core processor, souped-up camera, and Siri voice assistant on the inside. Many an Apple fan with the move, but it shouldn't be that surprising. The iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS didn't differ too much on the outside, so it makes sense that Apple would keep the same form factor for at least another generation. Some were hoping for a little 4G action, however, but don't expect that until are introduced next year. Despite the lack of the "iPhone 5," consumers still snapped up the iPhone 4S, with Apple of the smartphones in the first three days it was available.

1. Death of Steve Jobs
It was late in the day on Oct. 5, and just one day after Apple had , when Cupertino confirmed the sad news. The company's co-founder, Steve Jobs, . Jobs had battled cancer for years, taking several leaves of absence and even undergoing a liver transplant, but by August 2011, Jobs realized the time had come to say goodbye. He resigned from his post as Apple CEO, handing the reigns over to Tim Cook, and two months later, he passed away surrounded by family. In a printed by the New York Times, Jobs' sister shared his last moments, which included a phrase many had uttered when looking at a new Apple product: "Oh wow." Upon hearing the news of his death, around the world to pay their respects, and Apple later at its Cupertino headquarters. His life was chronicled in a Walter Isaacson biography, published about three weeks after his death, but for more, see .

Continue Reading: Honorable Mention>

Honorable Mention
A lot can happen in 365 days; here are another 10 stories that had us talking.

Adobe Kills Flash Player for Mobile Web: In early November, Adobe for Flash Player on the mobile Web and announced plans to focus on apps and HTML5. The company that Apple refusing to allow Flash Player on iOS had contributed to the product's demise. For more, see and .

Windows 8: Microsoft provided a first look at its next-generation operating system, Windows 8, at the D9 conference this summer. The interface borrows heavily from the tiled Windows Phone style, and we even got it running here at PCMag. Microsoft has talked up a number of expected Windows 8 features on its blog, and a public beta to be released in February. For more, see .

Siri: One Apple service that got a lot of press this year was , the voice-activated personal assistant app on the iPhone 4S. At this point, there are no plans to bring Siri to other versions of the iPhone, though might have inadvertently allowed for the iPhone 4 to take advantage of it.

Facebook 'Deceives' Users: In late November, the Federal Trade Commission with Facebook that requires the social network to be more transparent about its privacy policies. Under the deal, Facebook will have to get consent from users before making changes that override existing privacy preferences. The social network is also barred from misrepresenting the privacy of consumers' personal info and must stop providing access to a users' data within 30 days of them deleting their account.

Google Acquires Motorola: In mid-August, Google for $12.5 billion. Motorola has been a purely Android shop for some time, but the deal was primarily viewed as a way for Google to gets its hand on some much-needed patents; Motorola has at least 17,000. For more, see .

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA): The drama surrounding SOPA got started late in the year, but it of (and prompted opposition from) major tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google. SOPA is intended to go after overseas "rogue" Web sites that traffic in fake goods like purses and prescription drugs, but detractors are concerned that it will have unintended consequences on legitimate Internet businesses. The House committee considering the bill after two days of debating various amendments and will take up the bill again in 2012.

Carrier IQ: Carrier IQ also made headlines in recent weeks after a researcher, Trevor Eckhart, suggested that the technology is secretly embedded on many popular phones and can gather personal data about users. Carrier IQ said its technology is used for diagnostic purposes and or being able to read the content of emails, text messages, or Web sites. But Sen. Al Franken took notice, saying recently that he is "" by the technology. The controversy prompted longtime Carrier IQ customer the technology on its devices. For more, see

Natural Disasters: Though not specifically tech-related, the earthquake and resulting tsunamis in Japan, as well as the floods in Thailand and Hurricane Irene here in the United States had far-reaching impacts on the tech industry. The earthquake and tsunamis manufacturing plants in Japan, the Thai floods had a particular impact on , and Hurricane Irene took out communications networks, with among those affected.

Hackers Go Mainstream: This was the year that the average consumer became more familiar with names . The hackers had blogs and Twitter feeds and they weren't afraid of going after big targets, from foreign governments to major tech companies. LulzSec eventually and folded its efforts into Anonymous, and few hackers for their exploits. Anonymous ended the year focusing much of its efforts on the movement.

End of NASA's Shuttle Program: The shuttle era started on April 12, 1981 with Columbia and the program delighted space and tech enthusiasts for three decades. It came to a close earlier this year when Atlantis touched down in Florida; NASA will now focus its efforts on deep-space travel. For more, see .