2011 was a momentous year for Apple. The company had a great deal to celebrate, with the launch of the iPad 2 confirming that Apple’s tablet is in a league of its own, and two major OS transitions, to Lion and iOS 5, passing relatively smoothly.
One event, however, cast a long shadow over the company, the death of its co-founder, chairman, and former CEO, Steve Jobs. And it is that for which Apple’s 2011 will be remembered.
Nevertheless, there was no shortage of big stories involving Apple this year, as you can see from our run down of the year below.
January
The first month of 2011 saw the Mac App Store open its doors. Developers’ reactions to the Store and the restrictions it placed on them was mixed. But Mac users seem to love it and it’s now built into the operating system.
February
The shortest month of the year was notable for the introduction of a new range of MacBook Pros. Featuring Core i5 and i7 processors and new HD FaceTime cameras, the new notebooks were also the first Macs to sport Thunderbolt.
March
Apple’s biggest hardware launch of the year took place in the first week of March. The long-rumoured, much-anticipated, iPad 2 was unveiled by none other than Steve Jobs, who took time out from his sick leave to deliver the product launch presentation.
April
Apple was dogged by controversy in April after it was revealed that the iPhone tracks location data, along with dates and times, and stores it in a database file which is transferred to a Mac or PC when the iPhone is synced. The revelation led to Apple, along with Google, being called to a Senate sub-committee hearing.
Apple admitted that the iPhone cached details of wifi hotspots it had used and later released a software update to delete the cache.
May
New iMacs featuring Thunderbolt and FaceTime HD cameras were launched in May. The new machines also had quad-core Core i5 processors and ATI Radeon HD graphics chips.
June
If it’s June, it must be WWDC, Apple’s annual gathering for its developers. This year, Steve Jobs used his keynote speech to preview OS X Lion, iOS 5 and Apple’s new suite of online services, iCloud.
July
The MacBook Air has gone from being an experiment in ultra-thin technology to one of Apple’s most popular Macs. July saw an update to the range which saw it get faster processors and better graphics, as well as Thunderbolt. On the same day, the Mac mini got a revamp and Apple announced an new monitor, the 27in Thunderbolt Display.
August
On August 10, Apple overtook Exxon Mobil to become the largest company in the world by market capitalisation. It slipped back into second place shortly afterwards, but it seemed like an inevitability that it would eventually consolidate the number one spot. A remarkable feat for a company which looked for a while like it might not last until the end of the 1990s.
September
At the end of September, Apple sent out invitations to an event that most observers believed would see the launch of the iPhone 5. The iPhone that Apple did announce, the 4S was described in some quarters as ‘disappointing’ and ‘lacklustre.’ Despite that, customers couldn’t get their hands on it quickly enough, leading to long queues at retail stores and long waits for those ordering online.
October
There was only one new story that mattered in October as far as Apple was concerned. Steve Jobs, who had stepped down as CEO in August, died at the age of 56. World leaders paid tribute to a man who was widely described as a visionary and Apple held an event at its Cupertino campus to celebrate his life.
November
Apple announced that long-time board member, Arthur Levinson would succeed Steve Jobs as chairman and that Disney CEO, Bob Iger would join the board. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was published.
December
iTunes Match, part of iCloud, went live in the UK. iTunes Match allows users, for an annual payment of £21.99, to access music acquired from outside iTunes from any Mac, PC or iOS device. Also in December, Apple announced that 100 million apps had been downloaded from the Mac App Store.
For more breaking news and reviews, subscribe to
MacUser magazine. We'll give you
three issues for £1
Reviews
Doing the graphics for our awards night next week. Makes a change to open an image maximised on the 27in iMac and see "5%" in the title bar!
RT @macusermagazine: RT @counternotions: NEW POST: "Apple's design problems aren't skeuomorphic" http://t.co/DuYCbGVi <-- the human interface challenge ahead
@macusermagazine thanks!
MacUser’s round-up of 2011
by Kenny Hemphill on December 30, 2011
One event, however, cast a long shadow over the company, the death of its co-founder, chairman, and former CEO, Steve Jobs. And it is that for which Apple’s 2011 will be remembered.
Nevertheless, there was no shortage of big stories involving Apple this year, as you can see from our run down of the year below.
January
The first month of 2011 saw the Mac App Store open its doors. Developers’ reactions to the Store and the restrictions it placed on them was mixed. But Mac users seem to love it and it’s now built into the operating system.
February
The shortest month of the year was notable for the introduction of a new range of MacBook Pros. Featuring Core i5 and i7 processors and new HD FaceTime cameras, the new notebooks were also the first Macs to sport Thunderbolt.
March
Apple’s biggest hardware launch of the year took place in the first week of March. The long-rumoured, much-anticipated, iPad 2 was unveiled by none other than Steve Jobs, who took time out from his sick leave to deliver the product launch presentation.
April
Apple was dogged by controversy in April after it was revealed that the iPhone tracks location data, along with dates and times, and stores it in a database file which is transferred to a Mac or PC when the iPhone is synced. The revelation led to Apple, along with Google, being called to a Senate sub-committee hearing.
Apple admitted that the iPhone cached details of wifi hotspots it had used and later released a software update to delete the cache.
May
New iMacs featuring Thunderbolt and FaceTime HD cameras were launched in May. The new machines also had quad-core Core i5 processors and ATI Radeon HD graphics chips.
June
If it’s June, it must be WWDC, Apple’s annual gathering for its developers. This year, Steve Jobs used his keynote speech to preview OS X Lion, iOS 5 and Apple’s new suite of online services, iCloud.
July
The MacBook Air has gone from being an experiment in ultra-thin technology to one of Apple’s most popular Macs. July saw an update to the range which saw it get faster processors and better graphics, as well as Thunderbolt. On the same day, the Mac mini got a revamp and Apple announced an new monitor, the 27in Thunderbolt Display.
August
On August 10, Apple overtook Exxon Mobil to become the largest company in the world by market capitalisation. It slipped back into second place shortly afterwards, but it seemed like an inevitability that it would eventually consolidate the number one spot. A remarkable feat for a company which looked for a while like it might not last until the end of the 1990s.
September
At the end of September, Apple sent out invitations to an event that most observers believed would see the launch of the iPhone 5. The iPhone that Apple did announce, the 4S was described in some quarters as ‘disappointing’ and ‘lacklustre.’ Despite that, customers couldn’t get their hands on it quickly enough, leading to long queues at retail stores and long waits for those ordering online.
October
There was only one new story that mattered in October as far as Apple was concerned. Steve Jobs, who had stepped down as CEO in August, died at the age of 56. World leaders paid tribute to a man who was widely described as a visionary and Apple held an event at its Cupertino campus to celebrate his life.
November
Apple announced that long-time board member, Arthur Levinson would succeed Steve Jobs as chairman and that Disney CEO, Bob Iger would join the board. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was published.
December
iTunes Match, part of iCloud, went live in the UK. iTunes Match allows users, for an annual payment of £21.99, to access music acquired from outside iTunes from any Mac, PC or iOS device. Also in December, Apple announced that 100 million apps had been downloaded from the Mac App Store.