Apple now worth more than Microsoft

Apple’s share price has now risen to the point where the company’s value pushes it above long-time rival Microsoft.  After some choppy trading on Wednesday the company’s value topped $222bm (£154bn) the BBC reports.

Microsoft finished the day valued at $219bn.  It’s not all bad new for Microsoft though as they still have much higher profits than Apple, sitting in the last financial year at $14.6bn to Apple’s $5.7bn.

Market Capitalisation, the terms used for valuing corporations is calculated by multiplying the number of shares available by the current share price.

Despite the good news for the Cupertino innovator, Apple’s shares actually closed down 0.4% on the day with Microsoft falling by 4%.

Apple’s recent successes include the iPod, iPhone and the new iPad, though it’s overall share of the market is much smaller than Microsoft in the computing arena and equal to other rivals such as Sony.

Apple nearly went out of business in the 1990′s until founder Steve Jobs returned to the company to shake it up with the spectacular launch of the iMac.  All of a sudden computers in the living room became trendy and the whole market was shaken up.  It was this move that banished the ‘beige box’ forever.

Apple have been responsible for leading market changes with other devices too including the all-in-one PC, smart phone and, of course, the MP3 player.  It has stolen the design crown from Bang and Olufsen in recent years with it’s products all receiving heaps of praise from the press and public alike, and new releases being eagerly anticipated.

Apple is being rumoured to announce the iPhone 4G in June or July this year.

Related Articles:

Author: Mike Halsey MVP, Thursday May 27, 2010 -
Tags:apple, microsoft