Thursday, May 27th 2010
Apple Displaces Microsoft as Biggest Technology Company
For the first time since 1989, the era of Apple's market dominance over Microsoft is back. Shares of Apple on NASDAQ rose 2.8 percent on Wednesday, taking the company's market value to US $229 billion. As markets closed, Apple and Microsoft were poised at $222 billion and $219 billion. Microsoft stock fell 4 percent on this day. While the 4% may have contributed largely to the turn of events, Apple's emergence as the leading tech firm has been established, which is a watershed from 1998, when an almost broke Apple borrowed $190 million from Microsoft to stay afloat.
As far as revenues go, Microsoft is still leading. The Redmond, Washington based firm reported $14.5 billion revenue last quarter, compared to Cupertino, California based Apple, which reported $13.5 billion in the same period. While PC operating systems and software forms Microsoft's primary source of income, Apple sells a variety of computer hardware such as Macbook, software, and consumer electronics, including the popular Apple iPhone, and iPod.
Sources:
Reuters, intelliot
As far as revenues go, Microsoft is still leading. The Redmond, Washington based firm reported $14.5 billion revenue last quarter, compared to Cupertino, California based Apple, which reported $13.5 billion in the same period. While PC operating systems and software forms Microsoft's primary source of income, Apple sells a variety of computer hardware such as Macbook, software, and consumer electronics, including the popular Apple iPhone, and iPod.
109 Comments on Apple Displaces Microsoft as Biggest Technology Company
I'm also curious how you see OS X as not being a desired setup for the average user. Enthusiasts are not the average user. they are a minority of users. Being a power user of OS X, Windows and Linux, I dont really see what it ISNT good at. The only pro-windows argument in existence is games, hardware diversity. Photoshop is essentially identical, and Autocad is in Beta for OS X. OS X provides a more reliable, consistent user experience. You prefering Photoshop on PC Vs Mac is a personal preference. I prefer using Photoshop on my macbook pro, because when I'm multi-tasking, and navigating for files, it's significantly faster for me. Again, 100% preference. The technical difference is nonexistant when Job A gets done all the same.
The public, is what i would consider the "average user", and seeing as apple has gone from being essentially worthless at $50/share to over microsofts net worth, IMO, the public has spoken.
Durability is all in the user. Ive noticed people treat elecronics extremely different from person to person. I've had sony/iriver/samsung stuff that fell apart when I looked at is funny too. Especially when it comes to phones.
Protect your devices well, and durability is a nonissue. My 3GS is still in as new condition, because it not only has a screen protector, but went from its original box directly into my Otter box. It is the definition of Pristine. It has been through 15-20 military field exercises, gone to the range with me, and has always been in my pocket.
I wonder how much Linux made last year :laugh:
They deserve it more than MS or Apple!
Ubuntu creators should be billionaires by now!!!:toast:
Ipad- which most people say is a joke, is slowly for my opinion sense im using one turning into one beast of hardware. Its so dam smooth, and before you know it there are going to be apps, cracks, hacks, and more stuff to come thatll take a ipad into even deeper awesome territory.
Frankly there laptops-desktops-netbooks suck, well there perfect, but overpriced, over slimmed, and over simplified.
There Mp3 and phone/pad market is decimating though, these things are beast to me and i love my iphone for just how dependable and easy it should be to use. Yeh there are other phones, but my iphone is still alive, has still has support, and my freinds previous "badass" touch screen phones and black berry'es have died, broke, and lost support.
Pretty obvious..
but PC ALL the way!, and people that mention stuff like starbucks, skinny jeans, and relating them to apple are basicly num nuts missing out on life. I mean your trying not to be shallow, but in all actuality being Supremely SHALLOW hahhahahah.
Mac HL2 vs PC HL2.
:confused:
9600GT Vs Radeon 5850, 1440x900, default mac settings, and whatever I had set up last time I played HL2 on my PC as.
Direct X is overrated.
I was quoting Dippy, 'cause he said Photoshop worked faster on his Macbook Pro which has a 9600GT or something.
:shadedshu
I personally Own an iphone and have used mac's many times while studying (especially video/sound editing) and I can tell you for sure, these mac's don't do anything a PC can't do. More than that I bet a PC for the same cost outright would do it better.
It really annoys me that mac is trying to sell a lifestyle, but on the same token that marketing works for them, and they have hordes of mac-loving fruits who don't miss a single opportunity to rub its perceived superiority over you.
The average users need compatibility, for software, which can include games, even my parents in their late 40s play a few games on their basic computer, and the last thing they want to worry about is software compatibility issues, they want to plug something in and have it work. So that only argument in existence, is a massive one, better hardware support, better software support, thats basically what a computer is. I know Photoshop and the rest of the Adobe Suite is identical, thats what I was saying, I simply prefer it on PC, because my PC crushes any Mac that you can buy, and for much less. I'm not sure what you mean by a more reliable experience either, because, I rarely have any issues with my PC ever, and I've gone long periods without sweeping for viruses. But the Macs I use it school, always seem to have many issues, and many of my classmates who bought laptops have also sent them in for some repairs, I know that Apple and Mac users like to make them sound like they are bullet proof, but like any other hardware and software out there, they can break and have issues. In the end Job A doesn't get done, because of that technical difference, or the worry of something not being compatible. I buy something I want it to work.
The shares might be higher, but Apple sells many things, Microsoft simply sells software, I already said I'm not fond of M$, the PC market beyond M$ is massive, don't look at just the software side. I might if your going to count in the amount that the iphone, and iPod have helped out their stocks, then you might as well toss in every single company like Dells stocks into it, and all the software that is able to be boughten for Windows. It's not a very good comparison to compare a company with many facets to a company with one.
www.anandtech.com/show/3726/quick-look-mac-os-x-portal-performance
it seems that the issues i saw when it first came out HAVE been fixed. performance is still lower, however (even on the same PC)
And Frankly, I dont care if I get 250 FPS on my desktop, and 120 on my laptop(It is a $400 GPU Vs a 9600GT M afterall. No duh its gonna be slower.). It doesn't make a difference. The thing is, i play games for the entertainment value. not to gasp and pleasure myself to FRAPS showing 200 instead of 100. If that floats your boat, then more power to you.Thank you, for describing exactly what OS X does.
I bought a USB Creative X-fi Go. I spent 10 minutes installing the driver on my Thinkpad x100e. Being a creative product I was honestly worried about the driver even working out of the box.
However, I plugged it into my macbook pro, OS X saw it instantly. I selected it for my audio device, and it worked wonderfully.
It doesn't even have support from creative for OS X.
Better hardware/software compatibility? I really hope you were making a joke, otherwise you're just blind. Have you seen the mess that Ati, Nvidia, and creative have run into with Vista?
Apple's overall support for random hardware is completely unmatched. they just dont have stuff for internal PCI cards and such, because its not necessary. If it's USB or firewire, theres a 99% chance OS X recognizes it easier and faster than windows.
Please. Seriously.
it took 'illegal' third party software to succesfully get the music back.
apple stuff 'just works' - until it stops.
Apple surpassing Microsoft in market value, is a pretty historic event, though.This is why iTunes pesters you to make a backup, after purchasing music. Apparently they either didn't purchase their music, or they destroyed their CD's.
Pick an option, and realize who's wrong.
That being said, every iPod I have owned is a quality product and functions flawlessly. iTunes is a bummer, but it does what it needs to and I haven't had too many issues. I found ways to get my music off of my iPod when I had to reformat before, but my music is still chained to iTunes.
Everyone has their own tastes, and Apple does make good products, they're just too expensive for me. I've never used a Mac, but it comes down to cost for me. Probably the same reason I use AMD exclusively for my PC's. I get great performance for less cost, it's a win-win. Intel makes awesome CPU's but I can't afford them.
Beside, isn't Apple primarily a hardware company? Microsoft is traditionally software, except for the Xbox and Zune. At any rate, both companies are success stories, and Apple is Microsoft's only major competition, so it's good that they do good.
Mac Pro is self explanatory. Buy a similarlly setup dual cpu workstation froma different OEM, and the prices are pretty damn close. Apple will rape you in factory upgrades tho.
iMac, IPS screens in a decently powerful all-in-one. Worth the money to IPS fans.
Mac Mini, no mini PC of the same size has as much power for the price. There are cheaper ones of the same size, but they are Atom powered. Or there are bigger ones with the same power and price.
For iMac and Mini, when you account for the formfactor (which is a feature), they are good deals.
iPhone 3GS 16GB go for $199. That's not bad for a multi-media centric smart phone with capacitive touch screen. Although Android phones are finally making some good inroads here. I think an Android phone might be the next type of phone I grab.I prefer OS X for 24/7 usage. The Mrs's iMac isn't fast enough for my tastes tho, and I can't OC a Mac, so I'm going Hackintosh. Btw, aside from some games, you can pretty much do the same things on both Windows and OS X. So OS X is missing games, but Windows is missing some out of box features that OS X has. It's afair trade, all 3 major OS choices are about equal in terms of pros and cons for me, so it primarily comes down to interface preferences for me.If you think iTunes is bad, take the Zune software for a spin. No, no, don't buy a Zune either. Go Cowon or Archos, imo.
www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/biztech/05/27/cnet.itunes.apple/index.html?hpt=T2
Hopefully there are more probes to follow (especially iPhone software).