As we get ready to ring in the new year, we look back at who won, and lost big-time in 2012.   Where did Facebook land?  Groupon? Ever heard of LinkedIn?  You will. Fox Business takes a look at tech companies who scored and soared in 2012, and those who thumped and bumped! Some will surprise you.  Among the big winners:

  • Amazon-they are now considered the e-commerce destination on the web, and fueled by the growth of such products as the Kindle, the future looks strong.
  • Apple Computers-who doesn't have an I-Pad these days?
  • Google-not only the world's biggest search engine, they are way beyond that.  Developing cellphone and other technologies, and even tested a self-driving car!
  • Facebook-despite the stock initial disaster, it is still the world's largest social network and with the recent purchase of Instagram, the fortunes of the company continue to climb.  (Instagram is also a winner, the photo-sharing company sold to Facebook for one billion dollars!)
  • LinkedIn-the best way to describe this social network is Facebook for working professionals.  It's use among business owners, leaders, and professionals has exploded in the last year.

Now for some of the big losers:

  • MySpace-the social network suffered from a string of negative publicity events related to bullying, even suicides, then along came Facebook.   Justin Timberlake has been signed on to help try to 'save' the plummeting company, which these days is largely viewed as a music dump zone for aspiring bands.
  • Zynga-Ok, you might not recognize that name, but Farmville, Cityville, and other related games ring a bell.  Zynga exploded out of the gate a few years ago with games built on the Facebook platform, but these days is trying to keep up by creating new games compatable for mobile smart phones.  Do you still play Farmville?  (We haven't visited our farm in 18 months).
  • Vonage-From the steady barrage of ads on TV, you would never guess this voice-over-IP phone company is hurting.  But the growth of Skype,  Apple's Facetime (I-pad) and Google Hangouts have hammered it's business.
  • Microsoft-What?! Windows 7 and the Xbox are still huge profit generating sources, but experts say Microsoft "missed the mobile boat"  (I-pad, Kindle, etc).   Perhaps that's why you're seeing a ton of ads for the new Surface tablet and Windows phone these days.
  • Living Social and Groupon-tech experts say daily deal sites are suffering these days.  Once part of what is called tech's 'second great bubble', these sites exploded overnight, and have now lost as much as 80% of their value since their IPO's (initial public offerings in the stock market).

So what lies in store for 2013?  We could very well look back next December and see a very different techscape for who won-and lost-in 2013.  For the full slide show of winners and losers, click on the button below.

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