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Apple Surpasses Microsoft In Market Capitalization

je ne sais quoi writes "Today Apple surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization, a metric of the perceived worth of a company. At around 2:30 pm EDT, the total number of Apple shares were worth $227 billion, whereas Microsoft's were worth $226 billion. Both companies' stocks ended the day in the red, and have dropped in value since the Greek crisis began, but Apple's share price has been falling less quickly. Of American companies, only Exxon-Mobil has a higher market cap at this point at $278 billion. According to the article: 'This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history, as Apple had been given up for dead only a decade earlier. But the rapidly rising value attached to Apple by investors also heralds a cultural shift: Consumer tastes have overtaken the needs of business as the leading force shaping technology.'"

8 of 557 comments (clear)

  1. It's so sad by microbee · · Score: 0, Troll

    You know a company is going down when you no longer address their fanboys.

    -- an ex Windows fanboy

  2. Re:Growth by Nadaka · · Score: 0, Troll

    Microsoft is sitting at market saturation, the only way to grow from here is to make a bigger market. Why do you think the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is working to improve quality of life in Africa? The jaded cynical capitalist in me says that it is to open new markets for Microsoft products.

  3. So there it is... by Flector · · Score: 1, Troll

    Apple is Evil.

  4. Re:So close... by dilvish_the_damned · · Score: 1, Troll

    I would say its spot on, or near enough. MS dominance was not engineered through superior or even more appropriate software, but more by convincing executives of the perception that it was already dominant due to these. To bool it down just for you, none of it was true until they sold the perception that it was. And then it still wasn't, except for the dominance part.

    And you should be able to remember Oh! wait... were you in a coma from `90 - `97?

    --
    I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
  5. It's like I've been saying by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 0, Troll

    Apple is the new Microsoft.

    Go ahead and mod me down, but you fanboys can't deny it any longer.

  6. Re:Growth by jedidiah · · Score: 0, Troll

    > Judging from what I see now, I think Apple is building up the prerequisites for a real entertainment center.
    > The iTunes store keeps on getting more and more TV series and movies, with the iPhone/iPad they're building
    > a huge collection of minigames and such.

    The iPad is a TERRIBLE device to build a media center off of.

    The idea of a "media center tablet" sounds cool enough but the hardware just isn't up to it.
    It could be but it's not in Apple's interest to make a more flexible device. They want to
    shove stuff from iTunes down everyone's throat rather that support what's already out there.

    iTunes sounds less impressive when you've got tons of other devices that can tap into Amazon
    Netflix or both. Apple isn't going to take over the world by being yet another device that
    can access Netflix. Most people don't want pervasive pay per view either.

    This is an area where Apple is basically abdicating to Microsoft and everyone else.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  7. dangerous by yyxx · · Score: 0, Troll

    Apple is a threat to the software industry and software innovation. Even if they were innovating themselves (a doubtful proposition), their litigiousness and possessiveness mean that everybody else who wants to innovate is at risk from lawsuits by them.

  8. Or it could be by Chrisq · · Score: 0, Troll

    Or it could just be proof of the power of the gay dollar.