Apple Now World's Largest Tech Company

3249 Views 29 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Dr.Dave, May 28, 2010

99semaj

Discussion Starter · May 26, 2010

Apple's market capitalization hit $222 billion on Wednesday, leaving it ahead of rival Microsoft as the largest technology company in the world when the closing bell rang on Wall Street.

The dethroning of Microsoft now makes Apple -- for now -- the second largest American company, behind only Exxon-Mobil. Apple has a ways to go to catch the oil giant, which has a market capitalization of nearly $280 billion

While market cap is but a single metric, it's an interesting factoid all the same...

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I'm still kicking myself in the rear end for not having bought stock 10 years ago. Your 10 thousand would now be worth 100 thousand.

People who bought M$ at the time have actually lost money over the past 10 years.

As an Apple disciple, and a person who stuck with the platform since the Mac was introduced through thick and thin, this story has a nice, poetic justice tone to it.

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PokerChip

· #26 · May 28, 2010

The iPod saved Apple.

I beg to differ.

It's ultimately a computer, the iMac, which saved Apple. The iPod was not a "hot" gadget until its second or third generation. I owned a first gen 5 GB white iPod in 2002 and for the better part of one year, nobody even knew what it was, nor could they relate to why one would need such a product.

By the time the iPod became very popular around 2004, there would have been little or nothing left of Apple had they not been able to cash in on the colourful all-in-one desktop, which sold like hotcakes in schools and inspired the MacBook, Apple's first budget laptop.

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PokerChip

· #28 · May 28, 2010

Macs have always been more expensive than PCs. In fact, during Apple's dark ages (the 90s), the argument that price was the barrier to mass adoption lead to the appearance of Mac clones.

When Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, killing the licenses with clone makers was the first thing he did. Then he went to work on Mac OS 8 and the iMac, and people started to take notice again, just like they had in the mid 80s. For about 10 years, Apple had lost its edge. There were cheaper alternatives to their OS and their hardware, and people voted with their wallets.

I felt very different (no better, different) from anyone else around me when I was working on my Mac 15 years ago. I was using it because it just worked. Fifteen years later, I don't feel so different anymore (everybody is jumping on the bandwagon). But I still use Apple technology for the same reason: it works and makes me more productive.

With the iMac and OS 8, Apple regained its edge. Other products such as the iPod, the iPhone, Mac OS 9 and especially X, as well as good marketing and industrial design have allowed Apple to claw its way back from near death.

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