iWon: Apple Now Bigger Than Microsoft In Sign of the Times

[Stinky The Clown]

There was a time -- seems like ancient history, doesn't it? -- when Apple (AAPL) played David to Microsoft's (MSFT) Goliath.

No more. At the close of Wednesday's stock trading session, Apple's market capitalization stood at $222 billion, surpassing Microsoft, which had a value of $219 billion. Tech watchers hailed Apple's feat as the end of an era, changing of the guard, pick your metaphor.

The development is a symbolic victory for Apple, which has sparred with Microsoft for over two decades, as well as a sign of the times. Today, Apple is arguably the hottest company on the planet, while Microsoft -- still huge by any measure -- is falling behind.

Shift From Desktop to Mobile

More than anything else, the milestone signals the increasing shift from desktop computing, where Microsoft has long reigned, to mobile computing, where Apple has become the belle of the ball, thanks to wildly popular products like the iPhone, iPod and iPad.

More at this link: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/iwon-apple-now-bigger-than-microsoft-in-sign-of-the-times/19492931/

[BlueJazz]

1. I'll never buy their products after the nasty-ass lying campaign they ran against Microsoft.

:(

[Initech]

3. Or how their subsidiary Foxconn treats it's employees.

[digitaln3rd]

8. Re: Or how their subsidiary Foxconn treats it's employees.

I assume you're also not buying from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony (Playstation), Nintendo (Wii), Microsoft (X-box), Motorola, Amazon (Kindle), or Cisco?

[Initech]

12. They all use Foxconn? I had no idea!

[REP]

17. No, no, no - only Apple cause the problems at Foxconn! Not Microsoft, Amazon, et alia!

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. He forgot Intel as well

so I guess there goes half the computers, or is that more?

[davidwparker]

6. do tell

[BlueJazz]

13. Yep. I even have a Mac but that was my last purchase which means...

...Apple is going to suffer dearly for their sins.

[Tesha]

9. No problem; millions of others will. (NT)

[BlueJazz]

11. I know that's right.

[FLPanhandle]

10. What lies?

Microsoft produces unreliable crap based on what their bean counters determine is "good enough". That's not a lie.

[BlueJazz]

15. As a Tech, the only Computers I ever have to fix is cheap junk or...

people who don't use any protection and/or don't run the protection.

Having said that, I think Macs are fine machines and (as my other answer's say) I own one.

I just need a PC for my hobby...which is Recording ...and Macs don't allow for $500.00 sound cards and certain high tech Pro Audio Programs.
But still...Macs are cool.

[walldude]

20. I'm the same way.. I have both Mac and PC

for the same reasons. I keep a PC for gaming, recording and plus I love to tinker with my rig and you can't do that with a Mac.

My only problem with Apple is the bizarre cult feel of their stores.

[we can do it]

24. Why Go To the Store ? They Deliver for Free

[MrScorpio]

30. And why go to the Store?

My last three Apple purchases were made on Craigslist, at quite the discount.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. YOu mahy want to stay away from Microsoft Stores

then.

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-retail-stores-2010-4

I personally like the Mac store for the service and it is damn convenient for me, down the road really

[Greyhound]

14. I'm a devotee of Tux, so maybe you'll tell me what the hell you're talking about.

The irony of someone feeling sorry for M$ as the victim of a campaign of lies is just too rich.

[BlueJazz]

16. LOL!...No..I'm not a Victim. In their Ad, I thought the premise that...

..PC=Windows was rather misleading and their use of some dumb Guy in a suit compared to the "Hip" Mac Dude was childish.
Also the notion that Windows people HAVE to upgrade is also misleading..I mean, my new Mac has an operating sytem very much different from my first Mac....and Windows 98SE serves and runs pretty damn well...and of course, old Mac systems work fine also.

[REP]

19. John Hodgman is NOT some dumb guy!!

Like/dislike the campaign - no problem, but John Hodgman kicks ass. See "Mentally Ill Money" from The Daily Show.

[BlueJazz]

21. True but he's also a good Actor

:)

[bettyellen]

22. I met him in a bar a few years back and asked "hey are you a PC?" he nodded and shrugged...

so I said. Well, I bet it gets you laid!

[we can do it]

23. Poor Widdle Microshit

[NYC_SKP]

2. We were just now reading about that, and we're tickled pink!

Macs: overpriced but worth it.

:patriot:

[msongs]

4. you forgot to post market share stats nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Yeah, how much cash per customer are they getting?

I bet it's about twice MS. Since with MS you can buy any hardware from anyone but with the Apple products it's Steve's stuff or the highway.

I choose the highway and I bought a netbook computer for $325 last year that does a whole lot more than an iPad. It EVEN has working USB ports! Heck it plays FLASH! And that price includes the Microsoft OS.

[krawhitham]

7. Tomorrow it will swing back the other way

and get ZERO press

[KansasVoter]

18. Apple is arrogant and closed and a bully! Not a good thing! But lots of cult fans!

[seeviewonder]

25. Apple and Microsoft are both necessary evils

in my opinion. They, along with other tech companies, outsource what could be quality American jobs to China and other Asian countries. I'll be the first to admit that I own an HP laptop that runs on Windows but it is just really hard to get anything done with a computer without software from one of those companies. I owned an iPod up until about a year ago but I will never own another Apple product, I can promise that. The report about all the suicides at the Foxconn plant in China today underscored my assumption that all the factories used by U.S. companies to produce their products are in severe violations of human rights. Just because the employees at Foxconn say that they are treated better than some at other factories in China doesn't mean that they are treated well.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Get rid of our HP rig then

Foxxcon produces HP rigs and Intel chips.

No HP for you, or for that matter Mac.

[seeviewonder]

39. It has an AMD chip but I'm not sure

where they are made. I'm sure it's in China, though, just like everything else we buy here. The corporate leaders sold us out long ago and I don't think there is any going back to a system where we produce our own goods instead of just slapping a name brand on it after it has a "Made in China" phrase printed on the bottom of some product.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Yep but the same company you are complaining makes APPLE

products, makes HP rigs, that's my point.

Yes we were sold down the river a while ago and until there are a slew of changes at the structural level... nobody is coming back.

[seeviewonder]

42. You make a point about it being made in the same place

as the Apple stuff. Is there any brand that isn't made in a place like that? If there is I haven't heard anything about it but I would gladly buy my next computer from them if such a company exists.

And I agree that we were sold long ago and I can only hope that someday during my lifetime we will begin to bring those jobs (at least a majority of them) back to the U.S. where they belong.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. I wish there was a choice

but at this point no there isn't. And it is down right hysterical, if tragic at the same time. Look at netbooks. No, not the pretty shell (HP ones are pretty I admit) the innards. They are all the same thing... and they are made in factories across China by slave labor. (Ok I call it that way, they would not)...

It gets down right funny when people realize that a few of these things are produced in the same factory... they just change the outside shells by shift or company demand. Inside, same exact stuff. Do that experiment, go to Best Buys and just read the stats on the Netbooks. Newer ones have a different chip set... after that... same crap.

And when I finally replaced my first netbook for the one I use now (silly me, fell down and broke the motherboard)... the sales person tried hard to sell me the HP rig... why? I guess he gets a better commission. I pointed to him just how much the SAME it was to the Samsung rig I ended plunking money on. That one I liked the keyboard feel in the cheaper versions. I am to the point that I no longer spend a lot of money or am brand loyal. I just had to replace a microwave, another piece of crap that might say sharp or samsung outside, but inside is the same crap... I bought a seventy dollar jobbie only because the cheaper ones were not large enough. I want to be able to fit in a full plate in it. Oh and how long did the last one last, less than two years, and that is by design.

And sadly all the junk we import is just that, junk... and that ain't gonna change so what has to change is an International Labor movement, oh and realize in that worker's paradise organizing a union is against the law.

As to Mac... I am seriously considering getting my mom a Mac Mini. Why? My brother... he might not touch it, and some of the stuff he downloads into her windows machine have done much of a number on it. Now if he wants to download that stuff on HIS machine... by all means, but my mother's...

Have some respect there.

[seeviewonder]

48. I've considered buying a netbook before

but if I do I will just try to find the most socially responsible company available to buy it from. We'll see what happens with that...

I think it's about time we started implementing a sort of protectionist economic structure for ourselves. I think it would be a wonderful way to help solve our jobs problem and it would be a source of revenue for our government at the same time since more people would be paying taxes on their income. I doubt it will happen anytime in the near future but something has to change. This path of unchecked capitalism will be the death of us all (literally IMO).

[JCMach1]

26. When the pumping gets this thick!

time to short...

This report is strictly stock value and not based on real assets...

Just take a look at the Android numbers and you will see the end game of Apple's current up cycle.

[Egnever]

32. Hah you beat me to it!

The real player is google to be sure. They will dominate everything inside of ten years.

[JCMach1]

43. in the mobile market at least, most people now realize Android

will give you open source functionality that is the same, or close to iPhone.

Blackberry's numbers won't change much as they have a pretty dedicated user base, but that's almost a different paradigm.

Android Shakes Up U.S. Smartphone Market
First quarter 2010 information from The NPD Group's Mobile Phone Track reveals a shift in the smartphone market, as Android OS edged out Apple's OS for the number-two position behind RIM.

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, MAY 10, 2010 - The Android operating system (OS) continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company. NPD’s wireless market research reveals that based on unit sales to consumers last quarter the Android operating system moved into second position at 28 percent behind RIM’s OS (36 percent) and ahead of Apple’s OS (21 percent)... http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100510.html

I have no doubt Apple can continue having success in many areas, it is just that most likely we are seeing the end of a cycle.

[Tesha]

47. Actually, very few paying customers give a damn whether they get "open source functionality",

They want good performance and reliability at a fair price along with
a good selection of apps.

But whether the software is developed by open source developers or
gnomes in Redmond matters very little to them.

Tesha

[Egnever]

31. They better party now cause it wont last.

They are relying on the mobile market to hold that lead and their market share in the mobile market is already disintegrating. Google is the microsoft and apple killer. They will run the world inside of ten years.

Android is gobbling up the mobile market at an unbelievable pace. Who knew that open operating systems would be preferable to closed proprietary ones? :shrug:

Add to that the new google slates coming out and the desktop operating system in the works all set to integrate perfectly with googles wide array of cloud apps and microsoft and apple both will be also rans before you can blink.

Bank on it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. The google slate is still vaporware

and yes I AM LIKE ready for something to give a run for money you know that goes.

But so far it is vaporware. HP's slate is actually closer to release, alas that is Win 7 based

Just saying.

[Egnever]

34. you doubt it will come to market?

seriously?

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. No, but UNTIL IT IS RELEASED

it is vaporware.

And in my view they'd better do it at a LOWER price point too.

[Egnever]

36. Only a complete imbecile couldn't beat apples prices

and the google kids are the smartest bunch on the planet right now IMHO.

[Egnever]

37. Not really vaporware either

Dell's Android-Powered Streak Tablet Hits UK in June, Will Land in U.S. Next
Jason Mick (Blog) - May 26, 2010 10:34 AM


http://www.dailytech.com/Dells+AndroidPowered+Streak+Tablet+Hits+UK+in+June+Will+Land+in+US+Next/article18518.htm

Though this isnt as large as the ipad its still on its way to market a larger version wont be far behind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Well I hate to say it

but if you already got an IPOD pretty much that is it.

A little larger maybe

Me, I'd have to wait until the LARGER screen area before even thinking about it, and just a Wireless version. Don't need no stinking data packet.

[Egnever]

41. Cant argue with that

Its certainly designed for a niche.

The point is that calling it vaporware is a little disingenuous as vaporware implies something that will never materialize, the google slate is coming and it will likely be this year.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Well if it helps I called the IPAD vaporware until it finally

materialized...

And the price point is just silly.

That said I do like playing with them at the STORE.

[Quantess]

44. They deserve to lose, after Word 2007

[KillCapitalism]

49. PC's are better for raw power & performance.

Can you run Radeon 5970 video cards in Crossfire on a Mac desktop, or run an Intel Core i7-980x processor?

Can you run a Radeon Mobility 5870 graphics chip on a MacBook?

I don't think so.