Here are 2011's Biggest Tech Winners
Looking back on this year's most anticipated tech products, disappointment is a common theme. Android tablets were sales duds. HP, the world's biggest PC maker, temporarily had the bad idea to stop making PCs. The Nintendo 3DS was such a failure at launch that Nintendo had to slash prices. And for months, we've heard talk of a bubble in Silicon Valley, fueled by well-funded failures such as Color. But among the flops, some companies managed to find success this year.
Looking back on this year's most anticipated tech products, disappointment is a common theme. Android tablets were sales duds. HP, the world's biggest PC maker, temporarily had the bad idea to stop making PCs. The Nintendo 3DS was such a failure at launch that Nintendo had to slash prices. And for months, we've heard talk of a bubble in Silicon Valley, fueled by well-funded failures such as Color. But among the flops, some companies managed to find success this year.
IBM's Watson
The very definition of a winner, IBM's Watson supercomputer mopped the floor with human
Jeopardy phenoms Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a three-day challenge.
Watson consists of 2800 processor cores across ten server racks, stored in their
own room cooled by a pair of large refrigeration units, all geared to answer
Alex Trebek's questions faster than the human brain can. Imagine the day when
all of that knowledge will be available on your phone.
Apple's Siri
Apple's iPhone 4S is a mostly evolutionary product with the requisite
improvements, including a faster processor and a better camera. But Apple also
planted the seeds of revolution with Siri, a virtual assistant that speaks and
understands voice commands. Although Android and Windows Phone tread this
territory as well, Siri goes a step further by interpreting natural language
instead of relying on rigid instructions. It's the closest we've come to having
an AI in our pockets.
Amazon's Kindle Fire
Simply by generating healthy preorders, Amazon's Kindle Fire has burned brighter
than any other iPad alternative. The Fire's $199 price tag, combined with its
abundant content and Android apps, makes it an enticing tablet for people who
don't have $500 or more to spare on tech toys.
Xbox 360 and Kinect
Microsoft's Kinect, a camera for the Xbox 360 game console that detects 3D
motion, launched in fall 2010. However, in 2011 the Kinect hit 10 million sales,
making it the fastest-selling electronics device, according to Guinness.
Excitement about the Kinect has helped the Xbox 360 outsell its competition in
North America every month so far this year, according to The NPD Group.
Samsung Galaxy Phones
Apple isn't the only company that can create hit smartphones. Recent studies
from Strategy Analytics and IDC show Samsung beating Apple in smartphones shipped (not
sold, but impressive nonetheless). Samsung's flagship handset, the Galaxy S II,
sports an ultrathin design and a silky-smooth take on Google's Android software,
making it one of the year's best phones.
Apple's iPad 2
With the thinner, lighter, and faster iPad 2, Apple sent its competitors into panic mode, since most
of them were still working on their first-generation tablets modeled after the
original iPad. While those rivals floundered, Apple just kept proving that
tablets are not a fad, racking up 40 million iPad sales as of October 2011.
Lytro
In an age where smartphones threaten the viability of stand-alone digital
cameras, Lytro has sparked interest by promising to revolutionize
photography. The so-called light-field camera is a long, rectangular device that can
refocus an image even after you take the picture, so you can snap photos and
worry about the finer details later. Although Lytro's camera won't be available
until next year, it deserves praise now for drumming up excitement in an often
nonbuzzworthy category of consumer technology.
Microsoft's Windows Phone
Time will tell whether Windows Phone can catch up with Android and the
iPhone, but at least Microsoft is making all the right moves. After launching
incomplete software in 2010, Microsoft spent the year adding all the
prerequisites of a modern mobile OS, including copy-and-paste functionality,
third-party multitasking, HTML 5, support and front-facing camera support. The
company also enlisted Nokia to build high-end handsets, and strong-armed Android phone makers into
licensing agreements that may persuade them to construct more
Windows Phones. This was the turnaround Microsoft desperately needed.
Google+
At last, Google has launched a social network that isn't a catastrophic
failure. In just four months, Google+ has acquired more than 40 million users,
and has become the toast of techies such as Robert Scoble. Although critics have
noticed a recent drop in activity, Google+ at least has the makings of a true
Facebook competitor, which is more than you can say for Buzz, Jaiku, Orkut, and
Wave.
Google Chrome
Google's Chrome browser is likely to overtake Mozilla's Firefox in December,
according to browser-share
data from StatCounter, and it has climbed to more than 25 percent of the
market already. Maybe it's those sentimental ads that have piqued users'
interest, or perhaps it's the addition of innovative features such as instant
pages or a Web app store. Either way, Chrome will become Internet Explorer's
biggest threat in 2012.
