happy new year

The time has come to wish year 2011 adieu and welcome year 2012. Year 2011 had been an eventful year and the tech industry kept itself busy with new product launches.

How can we describe Year 2011? Year 2011 could easily be called the 'Year of Apple'. It was the year when Apple overtook Exxon-Mobil to become the world's most valuable company (in terms of market capitalization), albeit for a short while. It was the year when Apple released new operating systems for its mobile devices (iOS) and its Mac line of computers (Mac OS X Lion). It was a year when Apple launched its newest iPhone - iPhone 4S - which shattered previous debut weekend iPhone sales records. It was also a year when tragedy struck the technology giant - Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs passed away, succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Indeed, year 2011 could be called a bitter-sweet year for Apple.

However, the technology industry is not just about Apple though Apple is a giant in the industry. Start the slideshow to check out the top 10 (technology-related) news that shook the world in 2011. And, before you start, here's wishing all Tech & Trend readers a Very Happy New Year.

One thing's for certain, it's been the year of the video and social networking for us - a quite natural consequence of the global trends. Our YouTube video channel ramped up more than 20 million video views this year alone (a 200% increase over 2010) and we're still going strong. We even dipped our toes in producing some full video phone reviews.

Our blog has been on the rise too, coming up in leaps and bounds in the past 12 months. Our coverage there included regular tech news in all sorts of fields but most importantly, we've been spicing it up with exclusive features and articles, which you seem to like a lot (such as our regular phone unboxings, the recently introduced battery tests and our software reviews.)