For Google, 2011 proved a period of major change. Eric Schmidt passed the reins onto co-founder Larry Page in April, who not long after essentially streamlined the company into six major product areas, including search, social, mobile, and ads.
Google made several acquisitions, including spending $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility and $125 million for Zagat. Consumer-facing services like Gmail, YouTube, and Google Reader saw significant updates, and the company finally unveiled its social network, Google.
Android also continued to dominate. According to Andy Rubin, SVP of mobile, 700,000 Android devices are now activated on any given day.
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