ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Analysts might describe 2011 as year of the tablet, with forecasts predicting further growth for a device category most vendors dismissed before 2010. But one can also say 2011 was a very hard year for all tablets that weren't iPads...

Apple launched the iPad 2 on March-- and while the device was more of an lighter and thinner evolution than an outright revolution, it still sold an estimated 500000 on its first weekend in the US.

In the meantime, other vendors scrambled to launch the competition. Google optimised Android for tablet use with Honeycomb, which found use in the Motorola Xoom (the first tablet to run the OS), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (more about that later) and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first tablet using Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor.

2011 hasn't been too kind on European retail, not with the region still risking recession and a CE market undergoing "significant deterioration" (according to GfK). But who were the movers and shakers this year?

The biggest retail headline was definitely Best Buy's leaving the UK and closing its 11 big box stores in the country, following £62 million worth of losses last fiscal year. The UK pull out follows something of a pattern for the retailer, as it also left Turkey (after a 2-store trial) and closed all 9 Best Buy branded stores in China in favour expanding the more profitable Five Star brand-- something it will surely repeat with the Carphone Warehouse, in which it still holds a stake.

There are no doubts-- it has been quite a full year. From natural disasters to protests and ousted dictators, there was truly something for everyone on the headlines. And as for our business, well, we're about to take a look at what went on during past 12 months, with a Top 11 for 2011...

1. Farewell, Steve Jobs: The biggest story this year was certainly the untimely demise of Steve Jobs at age 56, following a 7 year struggle with cancer. During those years, Apple brought us the iPhone and the iPad. Jobs had already stepped down as Apple CEO on Aug. 24th 2011... and most of us knew the only only reason he would walk away from the company would be his ultimate demise.

One cannot understimate Jobs' effect on the industry-- his return to Apple in 1997 turned a company Jobs himself described as weeks away from bankruptcy into one of the the biggest in the world (and the biggest for a few weeks), fuelling customers' lusts for technology in the process.

2. Bye bye, Best Buy: The biggest retail headline this year was definitely Best Buy leaving the UK, closing its 11 big box stores in the country, following £62 million worth of losses last fiscal year. Not that Best Buy is completely out of Europe-- it still keeps its joint venture with Carphone Warhouse.

Rivals will be rivals-- while Intel blames the recent Thailand floods for slashing Q4 2011 forecasts, AMD CE Rory Read claims HDD supply in the channel is actually "going pretty well."

Such statements leave no doubt that tensions are still high on the PC making front.

Intel says “the worldwide PC supply chain is reducing inventories and microprocessor purchases,” predicting HDD shortages will continue until Q1 2012 before supplies recover sometime around H2 2012.

As a result, Intel reduces Q4 2011 earnings forecasts by $1 billion to $13.7BN.

In reaction, AMD rubbishes the Intel forecasts-- according to MarketWatch, Read "doesn't expect much pressure on the (Q4) quarter," and claims the supply chain is "very resilient."

Read also gives clues on the company's roadmap, hinting at (or at least not dismissing) the possibility of AMD licensing ARM technology. In the meantime, AMD will concentrate on hitting Intel where it hurts-- snatching market share.

Thailand houses around 40% of global HDD production, with many major companies (including Western Digital) partly suspending operations in the country. While most industrial zones now appear to be dry, high waters still linger in some areas.

Go Intel Q4 Revenue to be Below Expectations Due to HDD Supply Shortages

Go AMD Chief Downplays Impact of HDD Shortages (MarketWatch)

Go AMD Rethinks Intel Rivalry