Apple Closes in on Microsoft's Market Value

[Austin MacKenzie]

Apple Closes in on Microsoft's Market Value

While Microsoft is valued above Apple, that may not be the case for much longer.

While an early Marketwatch report stated Apple had actually exceeded Microsoft's S&P 500 ranking, it turned out to be mostly incorrect. The initial <a href=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-passes-microsoft-for-second-place-in-sp-500-2010-04-22>report put Apple ahead of Microsoft for the first time since 1997, but shrewd investors pointed out the report did not factor all of Microsoft's business ventures. The end result? Apple trails Microsoft still, but the margin is getting narrower, Apple's market value is stated at 88 percent of Microsoft's market value.

In the past ten years Apple has made substantial gains economically as it began releasing portable, often internet-capable gadgets to appeal to the mass market. Like Microsoft, Apple pushed for and achieved a certain ubiquity in the consumer household with things like the iPod and the iPhone, keeping all its property under tight control (such as its ban of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98558-Apple-Bans-Suggestive-iPhone-Apps>sexually suggestive apps). Microsoft has instead striven to have its brand on every desktop and company computer in America, having been less concerned with micromanaging the content it allows its brand to be attached to.

Does this gain mean we'll see a changing of the guard, where users everywhere go Mac? Probably not, but it would behoove Microsoft to take notice. Apple doesn't show any signs of stopping, so the pressure is on for Microsoft to stay competitive.

Source: <a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/apr/23/apple-microsoft-market-capitalisation>The Guardian via <a href=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/38672/Apple-nears-Microsofts-market-value?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mcvuk%2FoXMK+%28MCV%3A+games+industry+news%29>MCV


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[Jared]

Times are a chaging, and it seems Steve Jobs is gaining more group than MS are wanting to admit

 

[FinalDream]

Personally, as a fan of Apple since the very early iPod days its been a remarkable rise. When I went to college nobody had ever heard of my iPod (the first windows version they ever made) and they even mocked it with classic lines like "Where do you put the CD's its too small" and "they will never catch on". Nowadays every man, woman, child, animal and plant life has an iPod of some description, how times change...

Now all we need is the UK iPad release and I will be happy!

(Yes escapist, I am an Apple fanboy!)

 

[Exocet]

And yet,I still won't buy an Apple product until it becomes affordable,reliable and can be used with every piece of software a PC/any other brand of phone can.Also,in order for me to take their products seriously,they need to stop brandishing them as all new,revolutionary stuff,when it's been done before,just not as shiny.
Case and point,the IPhone and MacBook Air.Touch-screen has been around for a while,you did not invent it,and you just made a computer with no battery life,no dvd drive and a puny hard-drive.Instead of having it in a slightly more cumbersome computer,you now have to get stuff on the side to be able to do everything a computer is supposed to do.You savec space on the computer to take up more room on the side.How is this an improvement?

Lastly,I don't want something super simple to use with ,at the cost of a decrease in what we can look into/modify.This is one of the major complaints I had about Vista and about newer cars.If you notice,you can see less and less of the engine as new models come out.

 

[The DSM]

I think this is due to the fact that people are buying apple products because they look nice.

I can get a good laptop for £100 less than a notebook thing and it wont look like I could snap it in two by accident.

 

[Fearzone]

There is something that feels right about the iPad, almost like the energy of the Mac when it first came out.

I see it potentially becoming a major portable gaming device, and a good replacement for most laptops.

 

[Delusibeta]

Ultimately, the success of the iPhone and the general recent success of the iPod range (which I'll throw in the iPad in as well, since it's basically a redesigned[footnote]Read: bigger[/footnote] iPod Touch) during the time which Microsoft had Vista (*insert Vista haitin' comment here*), Games for Windows Live (lol) and the 360, well it's fairly easy to come to the same conclusion.

That said, I'm not shelling out £1,500 for a MacBook Pro and I prefer Creative's MP3 player over iPod [/refusenik].

 

[Credge]

Tell me when that Market Share changes in favor of Apple.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Meh, they are both giant corporations that don't give a crap about us and make faulty products designed to break so that we, the consumers have to replace them.

[small]Sent from my macbook[/small]

 

[syltman]

Never liked apple, never will. Althought I logically would as I like its style, My parents own one macbook each and I've tried then, I just don't like the way it's controlling me. Linux gives me freedom and happiness and is alot sexier overall.

 

[shemoanscazrex3]

Just imagine if their laptops were cheaper they would rule the world. At least they would have my wallet

 

[AceDiamond]

Maybe now someone will finally investigate Apple's monopoly on its proprietary platforms and questionable business practices and pffttttthahahahahah who am I kidding they could run the world and nobody would think it's a problem. It's disgusting how people look down on Microsoft and then let Apple get away with the same shit.

 

[DoW Lowen]

Macintosh will finally be avenged.

 

[LunarCircle]

Maybe now someone will finally investigate Apple's monopoly on its proprietary platforms and questionable business practices and pffttttthahahahahah who am I kidding they could run the world and nobody would think it's a problem. It's disgusting how people look down on Microsoft and then let Apple get away with the same shit.

That's because people like shiny things. How else do you explain Apple's success?

Seriously though, Apple's exorbitant prices, as well as its elitist attitude have always turned me away from their products. I do agree that it's quite ironic how the public always slams Microsoft, yet raises Apple on a pedestal when the company uses the same tactics. I'd love to see an anti-trust investigation into the company, especially with its recent patent infringement lawsuit against HTC for violating some ambiguous-sounding Apple patents. I.e. "Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image."

Here's a link to a Gizmodo article about the Apple vs. HTC lawsuit if anyone's interested:

http://gizmodo.com/5483632/apple-sues-htc-for-infringing-on-20-iphone-patents-the-complete-documents

 

[Cryo84R]

In order to have an anti-trust suit, you kind of need a trust first.

Apples small (but growing) market share is nothing close to a monopoly.

 

[LANCE420]

Apple making a run for Microsoft's Money? I'll believe that when me shit turn purple and smell like a'rainbow sherbert.