Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company Apple has pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world's biggest technology company. Changes in the share price values of the two in Wednesday's choppy trading left the total value of Apple at $222bn (£154bn). Microsoft is now valued by investors at $219bn. However, Microsoft still enjoys higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was $14.6bn (£10bn), compared with $5.7bn for Apple. Microsoft also reported bigger full-year revenues of $58.4bn, with Apple on $36.5bn. More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10168684.stm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can Microsoft start playing the Big Brother ads now?
I would be interested to see the breakdown of Apple's sales/etc. I am not sure if the increase is coming in the computer market as much as iphones/ipads/ipods/iTunes I could be wrong . . I think more folx are buying MACs but it does not seem like enough to account for its rise Rocket River
1989.. wow talk about an overdue comeback. Who thought it'd start with the iPod back at the start of the decade?
The rating is based on the stock value of the company (number of shares x share price). If Apple sold 0 computers and their stock was at its present value, they would still be ahead of Microsoft. Microsoft still has more sales in dollars and higher revenue.
I wouldn't say that market valuation is a measure of who is "biggest." I would say "most valuable." "Biggest" implies a more tangible heft -- market power, employees, contributions to the economy and so on. One adverse piece of news and Apple will lose a couple billions off their supposed value and won't be the biggest anymore. Measure biggest by their revenues and you get something much more lasting and meaningful.
market valuation measures future potential better than tangible accounting numbers. so in this respect, market valuation is right.. who would disagree that Apple has a much brighter future/growth trajectory than Microsoft.
Here's how I view it: if every iPod, iPad, MacBook, and iMac disappeared tomorrow, it would affect a lot of people, but things would continue basically unabated. If every copy of Windows, Office, SBS, SQL, etc. disappeared tomorrow, the wheels would come completely off. Microsoft products are used so frequently, I think people tend to forget how many applications there are for their stuff. Thread title is deceiving: Microsoft is much bigger than Apple.
Not to dispute what you're saying, but Apple started its turnaround when Jobs came back and introduced this: The iMac was the catalyst for the explosion that was the original iPod.
I believe that's the emac. It's really great to see Apple doing well. They deserve it for making stable, reliable products. Crazy to see how they are starting to get resented.
No thats the imac. I still have one. The emac was the same design but all white and was released after they branded another set of computers as the imac. The original imac came in 5 colors or something (I still have a teal one somewhere)
Yes, after all, look at the valuations of all those Dot Com companies of the late 90's/early 00's. :grin:
I tend to share this opinion too. Apple's certainly incredibly popular now, but it's not as if it's products are "must haves". They just have more popular versions of items that everyone else makes. And I think eventually the market can catch up. I've only bought two apple products in my life, an iphone and an ipod. Both times they were as gifts for people who think i-anything are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Microsoft, on the other hand, is still more or less a monopoly. One whose products permeates the fabric of our modern society.
Remember one thing you are not taking into account: apple is one stop shopping. Apple sells the computer, operating system and support. Microsoft only does one of those three things, so to compare the two companies is wrong. Now, if you coupled Microsoft's worth with let's say HP's and Geek Squad's worth that is more indicative of market cap. I still say what will be the death of apple is there fight against the notion of "PC compatible". If apple actually sold their operating system only to third parties like HP and let them actually manufacture and quality control the computer's, apple would have at least 50% market share of the operating systems. Instead they are at a staggering 7%.
Nope. That's the original iMac. Nope. The Bondi Blue iMac I posted above is the original. I had one. The five colors were released later in the first line of upgraded iMacs. The teal one was actually named 'blueberry.'
I don't think future potential is synonymous with "biggest" either. Future potential is why Apple stock is more valuable. If I invented the greatest gadget in the world -- one that allowed the owners to live forever, be enormously wealthy and experience eternal sexual bliss -- and I could manufacture and market it all by myself, I would probably be more valuable than Microsoft and Apple and a bunch of others all by myself. But, I still wouldn't be big.
Hmmm would I take the company valued at 3 billion more.... or the one that makes over twice as much profit? I still think Microsoft would feel easy, they still dominate their major market more than Apple... its just Apple made a good decision with the iphone/ipad(had a friend buy one and still don't see the point... I already find my iphone to be too big).
Oh come on. Man....this notion goes back like 15 years. And while it was an issue back then, computers have done nothing but get more and more compatible with each other during that time. Apple continues to innovate, MS continues to copy, and Apple, as evidenced by sales, this article, and this thread proves that Apple has done nothing but become more and more relevant as a technology company. Again, your argument was relevant in the early-to-mid 1990's. The exact opposite is true today.
I'm not sure why people think Apple has more "potential" to overtake Microsoft. Apple makes mostly consumer products that are a little gimmicky. They're third in terms of phone sales. The money, however, is in business sales. This is an area that MS is miles ahead of Apple and will be in the foreseeable future. Apple might have an edge in graphic firms, but overall, it's not even close and will not be unless something major changes. My work place alone pays a grip of money in volume licenses. Large companies can spend up to millions on exchange servers /workstation license... no way can apple compete against that. Apple's products are more conscious to the general public hence, the higher stocks but lower sales.
