2011 was a big year for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) fans. Maybe not as big as the introduction of the iPhone or iPad, but a lot of amazing things happened, and the company gathered an astounding amount of momentum.

Of course, 2011 was also the year Apple CEO Steve Jobs died. Many Apple fans knew he was sick. Some saw photos of his frail frame and worried. I did. And it's hard not to worry that his little dent in the universe might get pounded back out and glossed over. But 2011, wow. There's momentum there, for sure, even as Jobs took a medical leave in January. Momentum.

All Aboard the Apple Train

On Jan. 6, Apple's Mac App Store opened for business. It promised to replicate the astounding success of the iOS App Store for mobile apps on the Mac, a sometimes seemingly forgotten stepchild to the iPhone juggernaut.

Some developers were angry over Apple's need to curate, control and take a 30 percent cut of their profits. What was wrong with letting customers simply download their apps from the developers' own websites? Lots of things, it turns out. The biggest issue was discovery. All these new Mac users buying into OS X via the iPhone halo effect meant that most of them didn't know where to go to find apps, who to trust, and what even existed.

Add that to the fact that some applications didn't use standard ways of installation and were annoyingly painful to keep updated and licensed properly. The whole ecosystem was begging for Jobs to step in and fix it.

And he did. I love the Mac App Store. I've purchased more apps in 2011 than I have in the last six years. I know where to go. I trust the downloads, the installation, and the updates. Now, I am far more likely to invest in apps for the Mac, and each time I do, I become more and more invested in the Mac platform Integrated solutions for turnkey web stores and e-commerce platforms. Learn more. and ecosystem. In the very first day, Apple, despite a low inventory Integrated solutions for turnkey web stores and e-commerce platforms. Learn more., delivered 1 million Mac app downloads. That's amazing. The Mac App Store was a huge, massive innovation for the Apple world, and one that I believe remains under-appreciated.
Finally, Verizon Gets the iPhone

In February, Apple finally satisfied all the AT&T (NYSE: T) haters by opening up the U.S. to a Verizon iPhone. And what happened? AT&T didn't crumble, and Verizon didn't start offering new contract or cellular data fees that were radically better than AT&T's. It was a bit of a letdown for some who seemed dead set on believing that AT&T was pure evil and pathetically incapable of handling the massive iPhone data loads.

Turns out Verizon probably couldn't have done much better had it been the first company to launch with the iPhone. Either way, the point remains: Verizon became a turning point in the U.S. for other carriers to start selling the iPhone, making it easier than ever for anyone to get one. Had this opening up not started in early 2011, it's safe to say that millions of people would likely be using Android-based phones now instead.
iPad 2 Adoption Defies Expectations

Whether we're in a post-PC era or not, the iPad 2 came out in March and immediately started selling. While other tablets entered the market in the first half of 2011, they were largely ignored by the masses. And even decent tablets had a hard time competing with Apple's pricing. Apparently not many manufacturers could compete with Apple's astounding supply chain and manufacturing wizardry -- US$499 and $629 (for 3G and GPS) wasn't so ridiculously high after all.

In fact, it wasn't until late this year that other retail giants like Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) were able to create low-cost, smaller, less-featured tablets, like the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, at prices significantly lower than Apple. And these little media-friendly tablets are likely being sold at a physical loss per unit in the hopes that owners will buy other products through their ecosystems.

As of right now, whenever I travel around on business, close to home or far away, I can spot iPads left and right. Other tablets? Not so much. A few here and there. I was just in Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) looking at new physical keyboard options for my iPad 2 ... and where were the aunts and uncles looking at tablets? Not the Samsung Galaxy Tab display. No, they were all handling the iPads.

For Apple fans who have been users (and addicts) through all the bad years as well as the good ones, this massive uptick is gratifying, I've got to say.
'Firing on All Cylinders'

In Apple's second fiscal quarter, reported in April, the company revealed that it was basically kicking butt and taking names, despite a faltering economy and an elite product line with a high cost of entry.

During the quarter, Apple sold 3.76 million Macs, a 28 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. It sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 113 percent unit growth, and also sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, which represented 17 percent unit decline. That decline was expected since iPhone buyers don't usually also need iPod touches. And the iPad? Apple sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter.

"With quarterly revenue Get the FREE Top 10 Testing, Targeting and Personalization Best Practices eBook growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we're firing on all cylinders," reported Jobs (while on medical leave). "We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year."

Later, come August, the valuation for Apple as a company soared past Exxon to become the world's most valuable company. Sure, these valuations fluctuate, but for Apple fans, this was an astounding revelation. I remember when Apple was on the brink
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