MANILA, Philippines -- In about a couple of months or so, we would be into that season again when we all go crazy and buy each other gifts, both expensive and, well, not so expensive.

Also, it is the season to be thankful for all the blessings we have received during the year that is ending soon. In other countries far more economically advanced than ours, people are celebrating their national thanksgiving days. That would be the equivalent of our "magpa-canton ka naman" days, on a national scale, that is.

We wish to express our gratitude for the companies and manufacturers that keep on developing and churning out gadgets after gadgets, devices after devices, they hope we the consumers would love and buy en masse.

In most cases, that does not happen. With incredible levels of competition among manufacturers and vendors, as well as hard-to-gauge consumer preferences and expectations, coming up with a bestselling consumer gadget can sometime approximate a quest for Shangri-la, or even Nirvana.

For every bestselling smartphone, there must be dozens of Kin phones; for every iPad, there are plenty of TouchPads; and for every iPod, there are bundles of Zunes.

And yet, these manufacturers and their design engineers continue to trudge on, creating and releasing new gadgets and devices they hope would capture IT consumers' hearts.

No 5, No Problem

A big majority of market analysts and self-styled critics are hardly complaining about the iPhone 5's no-show. In fact, most reviews of the iPhone 4S are positive, even glowing with praises.

It really makes me wonder whether Apple (or more precisely, its contract manufacturers) really makes far superior products than those of the competition, or consumers have been so hopelessly brainwashed into loving everything that emerges from Cupertino.

Of course, a significant number of people have voiced their discontent over Apple's failure or unwillingness to unleash the iPhone 5. But their voices have been muted by fans' choruses of "so what?" and "it's what's inside that matters."

Hmm. Is the market really much more lenient toward Apple than it is for other tech companies?

LG's Fastest Phone

Lost amid all these past weeks' Apple and Steve Jobs news was LG Electronics' launch of the Optimus LTE smartphone. Equipped with 4G wireless technology, the smartphone, LG says, promises fast data traffic and speedier access to applications, such as TV programs, movies, and video streaming.

With lots of developments in the tech industry, particularly, the consumer electronics segment, it is rather easy to be unnoticed. Even major vendors, such as LG Electronics, can sometimes find itself battling for a piece of consumer attention.

HTC Mango Phones

Meanwhile, Taiwan's number 1 smartphone vendor HTC introduced a pair of Mango phones, Titan and Radar. Titan comes with a 4.7-inch touchscreen, and a pair of cameras (8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.3-megapixel unit on the other side. Radar, for its part, comes with a 3.8-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera.

Indeed, with plenty of product launches lately, Mango is fast becoming one of the more exciting mobile platforms.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.