Amazon, Apple, Zoom top 2020 tech winners; Quibi biggest loser

When a pandemic hits, stay-at-home orders are issued and people spend less time at retail stores.

This year, e-commerce giant Amazon was there to serve.

Amazon’s sales ballooned, as the initial delays and hiccups got fixed and the e-tailer figured out ways to continue moving products from one location to another, often overnight.

For that, we pick Amazon as the biggest tech winner of 2020, with Apple a close runner-up. In its most recent earnings, Amazon said sales jumped to $96.1 billion in the third quarter, compared with $70 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Millions of people were sent home to work or to learn. To do that more efficiently, they needed to buy new computers, phones and tablets. Apple reversed a trend of declining iPad sales and flat Mac computer sales, while also continuing to sell a high-end product, the iPhone, with a top starting price of $1,099. This, even as many people lost their jobs and faced business closures and evictions.