Top Winners in Tech

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  Twitter

  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.

  Image: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

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  Google

  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.

  Image: Mashable

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  PlayStation and Xbox

  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.

  Image: Mashable

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  Apple

  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.

  Image: Mashable

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  HootSuite

  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.

  Image: Hootsuite

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  Netflix

  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.

  Image: Jesse Grant/Getty Images

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  Nokia and Microsoft

  Microsoft saved
  struggling electronics manufacturer Nokia this year by snapping up most of its mobile division and licensing its large patent portfolio for about $7.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. 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.

  Image: Odd Andersen/Getty Images

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  Tumblr

  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.

  Image: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

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  Snapchat

  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.

  Image: Andrew Burton/Getty Images 

   

  Mashable