Editor's note: Vendors paraded their new smartphones and tablets. Manufacturers unveiled their latest computers, gadgets, tools, and other devices. Some of them excited consumers no end, while others were undeniably destined to be forgotten sooner than their makers wanted. While human nature will see us eventually forgetting about the best and the worst of 2011, some events are likely to linger on some people’s minds for a while.

MANILA, Philippines — The year 2011 saw some of the most heart-warming and gut-wrenching events ever in the tech industry’s history. There were exciting product launches and promising, if not thrilling, new technologies. But there were also an industry icon or two who departed for the great beyond.

Vendors paraded their new smartphones and tablets. Manufacturers unveiled their latest computers, gadgets, tools, and other devices. Some of them excited consumers no end, while others were undeniably destined to be forgotten sooner than their makers wanted.

While human nature will see us eventually forgetting about the best and the worst of 2011, some events, including the following, are likely to linger on some people’s minds for a while.

• Google Acquires Motorola Mobility

Manufacturers of Android smartphones and tablets must be admired for their ability to hold on to their poker faces.

Nobody, however, should be faulted for suspecting the anxiety these companies’ senior executives must have been feeling since Google, the godfather company that oversees development and overall marketing push for the Android mobile OS, had purchased handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

Maybe, these companies have no choice but to believe Google’s official line saying that the search giant aims to widen its patent portfolio and protect its Android partners from “anti-competitive” threats from Apple, Microsoft, and other companies it views as patent trolls.

• iPhone 4 launch

It was not the iPhone 5 every Mac faithful was hoping for. But it was no less a bestseller in its own right.

When Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 4S on October 4, it came packed with what the company calls “incredible new features.” These include dual-core A5 microrprocessor, 1080p HD video recording and, of course, Siri, the talkative virtual assistant.

It may not be the smartphone that various rumor-belching blogs had been spewing for the previous months, but with iOS 5 animating it, the iPhone 4S is one bestselling Apple product. Again.

• Hacking of PlayStation Net

There have been several hacking incidents before, most of them more notorious than the one involving Sony’s PlayStation Network. But the April 2011 attacks served as a “business-card-handing-out” occasion for the hacker group Anonymous.

Aside from compromising Sony’s popular gaming network, Anonymous also got hold of the personal information of more than 77 million users of the network. The hacker group also attacked Sony’s Qriosity online service, successfully.

• Google Plus

Google says it does not want to compete with Facebook for the social-networking market and mindshare. Of course, saying one thing is quite another thing from what one is actually doing.

And so, Google+ came to launch on June 28, with sharing and safety features that the online search giant claims are radically different from those of Facebook. Most significant of these features is the so-called Circles.

Facebook promptly responded with various new features and tweaks that so far have allowed Zuckerberg’s company to hold on to its number 1 ranking. Nevertheless, Google+, aided by Google’s various other online services, is steadily albeit slowly chipping away at that 800 million-subscriber pad.

• HP Kills TouchPad

On August 18, the iPad saw the lineup of pretenders to its tablet throne saw shrinking by one. PC maker HP, on that day, decided to discontinue its TouchPad tablet computer project after seeing anemic sales. Months earlier, the TouchPad, running the webOS from Palm, was touted to be a credible iPad slayer.

It ended up being sold for $99 each. Well, at least, it became a bestseller right before it gasped its last breath.

• Tech IPO Season, Once More

Online coupon company Groupon’s November 4 IPO has been one of the year’s most noteworthy initial offerings so far. Most recently, Facebook game Farmville developer Zynga made its own IPO mark.

Remarkably, the capital market has affixed billion-dollar status to these social media companies. Some market analysts think it seems like the 1990s once again, when America first had its first dallying with the “new economy.”

Dare we say “bubbles?”

• Occupy Wall Street Online

Protest movements in 2011 began in the Middle East. Since then, some dictator-led governments have fallen. The Arab Spring helped inspire Occupy Wall Street protesters that converged on New York City’s main financial market’s streets, as well as in other major cities in the United States.

Of course, the OWS movement also owes its popularity to various social media platforms that enabled organizers to help chart its course.

• Rise of the Android

Android has become the world’s leading smartphone platform, sending Nokia’s Symbian OS to the proverbial dustbin of tech history. Now, most consumers’ first date with a smartphone is most likely to be with a Google mobile OS-loving contraption.

Android has become so huge that it earned the ire of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who promptly unleashed a global war of patent attrition against Samsung.

The Korean electronics vendor happens to be Android’s biggest poster boy.

• Samsung Sells 300M Mobiles

The Android-powered Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones aided Samsung in selling some 300 million units of handsets in 2011. Even the company’s bada OS-powered phones are selling well.

The Korean electronics company is doing so well. Apple, a buyer of Samsung parts and components, has had no choice but employ patent lawsuits to maybe slow down the Korean company.

• Kindle Fire’s Hot

Online retailer Amazon.com finally released the much anticipated Kindle Fire tablet computer-cum-ereader. Supported by Amazon’s huge online collections of ebooks, digital music, and merchandise, the Kindle Fire has also sated consumer demand for an affordable tablet computer.

Sacrificing some high-end features and capabilities (read, iPad-ish) for affordability, the Kindle Fire nevertheless has provided consumers their first taste of tablet experience, minus the $500+ sticker shock.

• End of an Era

The year also witnessed Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple on August 24 and his eventual passing away on October 5, barely hours after the iPhone 4S launch.

Jobs’ departure speaks of how much impact he had on most consumers, their attitudes, and behavior.

It also highlights how we look at our world and what are the things we cherish the most.

Indeed, these events might make 2011 a year that is hard to forget.