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We’re now conveniently located near the corner of Whitcomb and Westnedge behind the Burger King. We are the upper suite in the rear of the building. If you need driving directions, please don’t hesitate to call!

Geek Easy Computers
435 Whitcomb St. UL 201
Kalamazoo, MI 49001
(269)548-TECH (8324)

A Geek Easy Computers 2012 Technology Review

This past year has been an exciting one in many respects.  It has definitely been a roller coaster of a ride.  The ups and downs of the economy, the re-election of the first African-American president, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.  So many newsworthy events took place it’s nearly impossible to comment on them all.

From controversial YouTube videos to megastorm Sandy frauds, many things inspired emotion, anger and endless jokes in 2012.

But 2012 saw some odd trends too – predicted the death of BlackBerry, but as of yet, RIM is still here and still making new products. The Google empire has expanded to challenge Apple more directly from music to tablets, while Samsung, arguably the world’s most popular brand, called a truce in its fight with Apple. 4G technology finally launched to make mobile phone networks faster, but it won’t likely reach the mainstream until later in 2013.

If 2012 could be defined by one thing, it would likely be litigation. Apple and Samsung went to court over a nasty patent battle. Apple dropped Google Maps from its devices amid widespread criticism of their own mapping app only to bring it back before the year’s end. Twitter cut support for LinkedIn and later blocked Instagram from its API. Instagram cut support for Twitter cards, and next the photos disappeared altogether from the service.

Let’s take a look at some of the “peaks and valleys” of 2012!

Android – 2012 was a banner year for Android.  It ended the 3rd quarter with 75 percent of the market share, making it the clear leader in mobile OS, and it remains free.

Samsung – They are everywhere.  Every mobile network carries their handsets. Nearly everybody knows someone who has a Samsung phone!  Samsung sold over 55 million smartphones in one quarter.  The Galaxy S III is one of the most popular smartphones ever with over 18 million phones shipped in five months.  Arguably the best smartphone on the current market, and this momentum will likely continue.

iPhone – One can’t mention Android without mentioning its biggest competitor, Apple.  Time magazine voted the iPhone “Gadget of the Year.”  The release of the iPhone 5 shot Apple back into the lead of the smartphone race in the U.S.

Apple – Speaking of the Redmond company, Apple dropped a few innovations on us as well.  The new improved Retina Display, now also on the Macbook Pro, the runaway success of the iPad Mini, and the latest OS upgrade – Mountain Lion.

Twitter – in 2012 Twitter reached 500 million users, and recently announced 200 million monthly active users!  Not too shabby…

ARM – last year saw ARM chips in the majority of smartphones. Does that mean they are ready to challenge Intel CPU dominance?  ARM processors began to invade the enterprise, being integrated in some Dell and HP servers, as well as powering Microsoft’s newest attempt at hardware (the Surface RT) which features an ARM-compatible, stripped-down version of the Windows operating system.

Youtube – is still the online video leader, with 800 million visitors, despite the cold shoulder from iOS 6.  Youtube just keeps on growing, with 25 times the video streams of anyone else!

HP – 2012 saw HP slide further down the hill toward market irrelevance.  Although still a contender in the PC market, nothing else noteworthy has been forthcoming from the once dominant company.  Can they make a noteworthy entry into the already dominated mobile market? Will their long-standing reign on convertible laptops shine with touch focused software due to cater to Windows 8?

Microsoft –  introduced a plethora of new products – Windows 8, Surface RT, Office 2013/365, Server 2012.  Also HUGE announcement with the death of Small Business Server.  Microsoft has killed Windows Small Business Server development, trimming the Windows Server 2012 lineup to four editions: Datacenter, Standard, Essentials and Foundation.  Some channel partners have raised concerns that Microsoft has lost touch with its partner base by killing SBS; one of Microsoft’s most popular small business channel products over the past decade.

Google – announced Google Apps is no longer offered in a free version. Killed off Postini, and are migrating users to Google Apps. Google released it’s own Android tablet for the first time (the Google Nexus) in 7-inch, and quickly followed the release with 32GB versions, a 10-inch version, and models with 3G connectivity much to the chagrin of Apple (who specifically called out the Nexus when announcing the iPad Mini).

So much was changed, introduced, innovated in 2012 that it makes anticipation for 2013 even more exciting!  We couldn’t end a post about 2012 without mentioning the most viral music video of the entire year. So as an homage to Psy’s Gagnam Style, here is some of our crew showing off “Geek Easy Style.”

Geek Easy Computers is definitely looking forward to new technology, and new interactions with you, our customers!  Once again, we thank all of our customers and fans for staying with us in 2012, and to the community here in Kalamazoo, MI.  Thanks to all of you!!

Share your favorite tech moments with us in the comments below or on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

For more info Click here –> https://geek-easy.com/contact-us/
420 N. Church St. STE 1
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
(269)548-TECH (8324)
info@geek-easy.com

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