By many accounts, Twitter's initial public offering in November was a seamless effort far less volatile than Facebook's IPO in 2011. Twitter priced 70 million of its shares at $26 apiece and stock has since soared. The company also won big in January when it announced the acquisition of six-second video app Vine, which remains at the top of the iOS app download charts.
The buzz around high-tech eyewear Google Glass -- a product not officially on the market yet -- kept the search giant on the tips of everyone's tongues in 2013. Google also nabbed 80% of market share for its Android mobile operating system and won the bidding war for Waze, a popular social traffic app. Facebook reportedly had its sights set on Waze, too.
We spent the year anticipating the arrival of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which show us the future of what gaming can hold. Microsoft's next-generation video gaming system Xbox One ($499) shipped in November, eight years to the date that its predecessor Xbox 360 made its official debut. Meanwhile, PlayStation 4 ($399) landed in stores one week earlier. Both companies said it sold more than one million consoles in 24 hours.
Apple product launches were more evolutionary than revolutionary this year, but the company is still in the business of selling millions of mobile devices and creating devices that bring out the masses. In addition to rolling out two new iPhones, the iPhone 5S and lower-cost 5C, Apple debuted the iPad Air, a thinner, sleeker model. In a surprising move, also made its Mavericks OS for Macs completely free.
Social media management platform HootSuite received $165 million in funding in August, putting its valuation in the $1 billion-plus range. The service, which has about 7 million users worldwide, continues to gain traction with its "freemium" model, enticing people with a free version to eventually pay for more extensive services.
It was a huge year for Netflix and web-only content, which made history for taking home three Emmy Awards for its original series House of Cards. After bouncing back from a tough 2011 when CEO Reed Hastings tried to split the company into two entities, Netflix's subscription numbers and stock soared in 2013. The success of several of its web-only series, including Orange Is the New Black, have caused other web streaming services like Hulu and Amazon Prime to get into the original content game, too.
Microsoft saved struggling electronics manufacturer Nokia this year by snapping up most of its mobile division and patents for about $7.2 billion. The companies first entered a partnership in 2011 when Nokia used the Windows Phone operating system as its primary smartphone strategy. The Windows Phone had a solid year, too; Instagram and Vine finally arrived on its platform. Its fast-growing market share hit No. 2 in Latin America and other parts of the world.
Yahoo acquired blogging platform Tumblr earlier this year for about $1.1 billion as part of a larger move to breathe new life into the once struggling company. Although Yahoo and Tumblr haven't reported user numbers or updates following the move, its clear there is one winner: David Karp, Tumblr's 27-year-old Tumblr CEO, who received a annual salary of $10 million and $41 million in stock if he stays with the company for four years. That's on top of the $250 million in cash and $29 million in stock he received out of the gate for selling the company.
Say what you will about Snapchat -- the picture and video messaging app that deletes content after just a few seconds often has promiscuous connotations -- but the company is booming. It reportedly turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook and possibly a $4 billion one from Google. Snapchat processes about 400 million pictures each day and is a mainstay on the top app downloads charts.
2013 was a year of tech comebacks — from Netflix to Nokia — but not all turnaround attempts fared so well. Myspace, anyone?
As we look back on the past year, certain "winners" clearly conquered the industry. Others fell dramatically short.
See also: Top 25 Free iPhone Apps of All Time
From the $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging platform Tumblr to the growing popularity of Snapchat, which reportedly turned down a $3 billion bid from Facebook, startups hit the mainstream in a big way.
Google also had a tremendous year, thanks in part to the buzz around its high-tech eyewear, Google Glass, which hasn't even hit the consumer markets yet. Take a look at our full list of winners in the gallery above.
Other companies made valiant attempts at innovation, but some — such as Samsung with its Galaxy Gear smartwatch — didn't quite hit the mark. We rounded them up, too, below.
Despite a major redesign, new branding strategy and celebrity support from Justin Timberlake, Myspace's effort this year fell short of expectations. The company shifted its sole focus to the music world, an area that once flourished on the original platform, but never really caught on.
Amid tablet growth competition, Barnes & Noble made a big push for its Nook e-reader this year despite a big sales drop of 20% to $153 million. It rolled out a redesigned Nook Glow Light e-reader in October, but the company continues to struggle in the tablet space. CEO William Lynch, who led the company's push into digital, resigned in July.
After raising $150 million in venture capital, the online design store laid off more than 100 employees in July, equivalent to about 14% of its workforce (after which it held a job fair).
One of the company's cofounders, Bradford Shellhammer, left in November, noting that he wanted to pursue other creative projects.
Samsung continues to dominate the market share for smartphones, but its introduction of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch was rather anti-climatic. While the Galaxy Gear has a lot of potential -- it promises synced apps and phone calls directly to your wrist -- it hasn't reached mass appeal yet. From an uncomfortable band to a high price point ($299) to charging difficulties and issues with built-in notifications, Samsung itself has even admitted that it's working on fixing the model and recruiting new talent to do so.
Following a net loss of $650 million in 2012, the daily deals service was the victim of a large-scale cyber attack in April, which could have affected up to 50 million of its users. Most recently, the company posted a $25 million net loss for the third quarter of 2013, which was its best earnings report of the year. It recently suffered a 40-hour outage and also sold its lucrative TicketMonster unit to rival Groupon.
BlackBerry continued to struggle with device sales in 2013 and fired its CEO Thorsten Heins. Despite putting itself up for sale, the wireless device company later decided to take itself off the market. The company had until early November to agree to an acquisition by Fairfax Financial Holdings for $4.7 billion, but is now seeking to raise $1 billion by selling convertible notes to a group of investors.
Think we missed any? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: Mashable composite. iStockphoto, P2007; Apple; Twitter; Snapchat