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TechBest of the Year in Business

These Were the 10 Biggest Apple Stories of 2015

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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December 31, 2015, 9:28 AM ET

You wouldn’t know it by looking at Apple’s share price, but 2015 was a big year for the company—packed with new products, new services, and new challenges.

Here are our picks for the 10 biggest Apple (AAPL) stories of the year:

  • Apple Watch ships: The wrist is hot mobile real estate, and Apple has a first-mover advantage.
  • New Apple TV arrives: Siri search is a killer app, buying Apple a bit more time to take its rumored streaming TV service beyond vaporware.
  • Apple Music debuts: Jimmy Iovine may have a foot-in-mouth problem, but he knows the music business. Exclusivity will be his killer app; just ask Taylor Swift.
  • Record iPhone 6S sales: A 13-million unit opening weekend bodes well for the “tough compare.”
  • Apple explores electric cars: The company is assembling a team to build what could be Apple’s biggest product ever.

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  • The iPad gets a pencil: Every great Apple platform starts with a new input device, and this one could be a big draw.
  • Steve Jobs flops: Despite huge build-up, a brilliant screenwriter, Oscar-winning director and great acting, this big-budget biopic bombed at the box office.
  • MacBook loses ports: Apple finally made a Mac that power users can’t use.
  • Samsung pays up: An end, of sorts, to Steve Jobs “thermonuclear” war on Android.
  • Apple shares go nowhere: Despite record sales, loyal customers, steady growth, a huge cash hoard and profit margins that are the envy of the tech world, the stock finished 2015 pretty much where it started. Go figure.

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Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.

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By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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