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Mar 12, 10 - 01:34 pm Comment from: Macintosher

And I should think Microsoft is quaking in fear (and from the vibrations of chair throwing). They haven't got long and I'm sure even Barmy Ballmer realises that.

Mar 12, 10 - 01:36 pm Comment from: rizzior

Hey Monkeyboy, We got u in our Site.

I jizzed when I saw these news! Gooo Apple!

Yes!!!!! Apple #1,very soon

Ballmer should just SIDAGTMBTTS.

Mar 12, 10 - 01:38 pm Comment from: rizzior

Hey Monkeyboy, We got u in our Sight.
And guess what, "Ur going Down"

Hey and when the oil runs out number one is just there for the taking.

Mar 12, 10 - 01:42 pm Comment from: iWill

Yet another tipping point.. .:.

Mar 12, 10 - 01:49 pm Comment from: bond co. stooge

re #1...

Lets take it easy here, kids...XOM's net profit > AAPL's gross revenue...

I love 'em too, but jeez

spyinthesky,

If you're conservative, don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. If not, please do.

In the 70's I was told at school that at the rate we were using oil, it would all be gone within 15 years (mid-90's).

I was told by Ted Danson in the early 80's that at the rate we were cutting trees, by 2000 the US would have no more forests left.

I'm glad I'm not an old fart who no longer has a brain of mush drinking the coolaid, but somewhere along the line put on my critical thinking cap and figured things out.

Oh, Go Apple!

Mar 12, 10 - 02:14 pm Comment from: lkrupp

Oh, I guess this is the "rounding error" Ballmer talked about a couple of years ago.

Dear "No More Coolaid for Me"

Never mind what you were told, get your facts straight.

It's Kool-Aid


:k)

This looks good but seems to be too close to call. In a few days we will have a better read on who's #3.

As an Apple shareholder, I'm feeling pretty good today.

Peace.

Huh? Exxon's net profit was not greater than Apple's revenue.

Exxon net profit 2009 = $19.3B
Apple's revenue 2009 = $46.7B

When Apple's Market Cap passes Microsoft's the first round of drinks are on me at the Oyster Bar in Tempe, AZ at 4:45pm

@Demon,

As an Arizona alumnus, I'd love to fly out and be there to take you up on your offer. Of course, getting the right day will be a little tricky... But we can certainly celebrate Apple's rise and agree to disagree about our respective local universities.

Bear Down, Wildcatz!

Mar 12, 10 - 03:26 pm Comment from: Original Jake

GO APPLE!!!
Prediction: Apple market cap will exceed M$ within 2 months.

Mar 12, 10 - 04:01 pm Comment from: m159

As late as 2003 the word was circulating everywhere but at One Infinity Loop that Apple was going out of business, and microsoft, walmart, cisco, and dell ruled the brokerage buy lists. Fortunately, some of us were buying AAPL stock as well as their products.

Mar 12, 10 - 04:13 pm Comment from: Famous Grouse

All ur market caps are belong to us.

I predict that, unfortunately, it will take Apple longer to bury MS than it did Dell. Corporate computing markets are slow to change.

Let's hope that Wally World's market cap crashes and burns. Walmart is a significant, if not primary, reason that consumer goods sold in America are now almost exclusively disposable and Chinese-manufactured. Modern Rome is burning thanks to traitors like this.

It's the same in Modern Greece (England!).
We're all buying lovely cheap Chinese goods, while our own factories are closed.
Trouble is... that's freedom for you. People want cheap - Wallmart gives them what they want. If they didn't sell cheap, some other store WOULD.

Mar 12, 10 - 04:48 pm Comment from: Dasgeek

I like our strategy.... I like it a lot.

What?!
A company that produces high-quality items at appropriate prices has higher value than a company that tries to sell to the lowest common denominator?

Maybe there's hope for North American society?

Maybe people in North America are smarter than those of us who post on MDN stories!

Mar 12, 10 - 07:16 pm Comment from: MacMorsel

What's going on MDN? No post on Apple's shares once again hitting an all-time high close?

Mar 12, 10 - 08:11 pm Comment from: macaholic

@Ringgo
Actually it was Flavor Aid! Get your facts straight!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavor_Aid

Don't blame Walmart. It's the consumer who decides which vendor makes lots of money and which one doesn't. Higher perceived value can sometimes win out, but the American consumer is, for the most part, all about low price.

@ Craig: anytime a retailer dictates price points to a manufacturer in a manner such one or all of the following occur, this is bad for everyone:

1. the retailer destroys marketplace competition not only through predatory pricing, but also good old fashioned corruption
2. mfrs are forced to slouch on quality to sell through said monopoly retail channel
3. mfrs are forced to offshore production to sell through said monopoly retail channel
4. mfrs are forced into bankruptcy if refusing to sell through said monopoly retail channel


Peter Dawson proposed an excellent solution to the real problem of declining American standard of living (yes, in economic terms, America is indeed declining). He references also the excellent Frontline "Is Walmart Good for America?" program that explained how Rubbermaid was forced into bankruptcy and, as part of its liquidation, was absorbed by a competitor and its own machinery immediately purchased for a pittance to be relocated to China.

http://www.petercdawson.us/Dawson_Peter_C._By_American_article_March_2006.pdf

See related post: http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/24339/

It adds an asterisk to the market capitalization figures in this story.

Mar 13, 10 - 07:32 am Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Craig
"but the American consumer is, for the most part, all about low price"

All Wal*Mart does is fill a market position - to supply general living goods, cheaply, to folks who would probably shop somewhere else if they could afford to. Wal*Mart only exists because our society basically requires them to. That's where a big chunk of the American economy lives.
But there are many kinds of American consumers, and the kind that brought Hummer to prominence haven't entirely vanished, and aren't ones to shy away from laying down the dough to at least *look* like they know what they're doing.
There is clearly a lot more at work here than finding the lowest price.
American consumers will pay for nice stuff. It works in every other business, for some reason. You might not think that a Porsche is worth $230,000, but few would argue that, money aside, a Porsche is pretty frikkin' awesome. Nice things cost money.
And lots of Americans are still buying nice cars. (until the next totally fake recall scare...)

But for some reason, the computer economy is upside down. And I'll tell you why, and take the auto analogy a bit further...

Because millions of 'power users' out there decided that automobiles were no good unless there was a way to keep shoveling coal into them.

But screw them.

The thing is, places like Wal*Mart (and other bottom-priced outfits like Dell) tend to operate in cycles. They don't last forever, because no matter how low you can get your prices, there will always be some bastard with slave-labor in East Timor that will come along and undercut you. You can't win at that for long, so you have to invent.
Some folks are better at inventing than others. The ones that aren't good (ahem) die.

Mar 13, 10 - 02:41 pm Comment from: Neil Anderson

Apple products are undeniably hip. So maybe it really is Cool-aid.

Mar 14, 10 - 10:49 am Comment from: Beeblebrox

Apple is doing well these days for several reasons:

1. They have managed to get their prices down to a reasonable level for the average consumer without sacrificing quality (much). The original iMac was the turning point and the clamshell iBook solidified that trend.

2. Americans may like low prices but we also value quality. Apple has found the sweet spot in this equation. But even Walmart has to stock goods that won't fall apart a month after the purchase.

Some of you youngsters may not remember but America has, for over a 130 years, had discount retailers. Woolworth's was the first "five and dime" (founded in 1878) and we have had them ever since. Walmart is an easy target for the self-appointed elitists of our society but the phenomena of the discount retailer is not new and it certainly is not destructive to our economy or society.

And one more OT thing.

The US has KNOWN and untapped oil reserves (in the tar sands of the Rockies, in the wastelands of Alaska, in the Bakken Play of the Dakotas, off shore of CA and in the Gulf, etc.) of over 2 TRILLION barrels of crude (that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama have placed off limits to the American consumer).

Americans use 20 Million barrels of oil per day.This does not count natural gas reserves which are even larger and more is being discovered every day.

Do the math. We're not running out of "fossil" fuels"

There is no reason to spend a DIME on wind or solar with reserves of this size. It is a waste of money and drags down our economy. Cap n Trade, "green" technologies, etc just cost the consumer money he should otherwise be spending on iPads and MacBooks.

@ Beeblebrox: You bring up some good points. Apple does offer tremendously high lifetime value, and more people are recognizing this, finally.

Have you seen a complete thermodynamic analysis of oil shale ("tar sands")? In order to refine it to a fuel that can be burned in current automobiles (not only to to extract the oil from the rock but also to remove the impurities) remains economically untenable, much more energy intensive than refining the lowest grade of crude oil. Environmentally, it's complete disaster. Nothing lives downstream of the tar sands. We can do better using natural gas, wind, and solar. Also, Americans can reduce their energy consumption at least 50% while simultaneously increasing GDP if we wished to do so. Better insulation and the retirement of fuel-oil furnaces and inefficient resistive heating alone would save Americans billions of dollars in energy costs, while putting many to work.

Look at recent trends: Denmark has increased its GDP some 30+% while simultaneously decreasing its energy use by 50%. Germany has emerged as a solar energy leader, as well as other vibrant high-tech manufacturing, with much less unemployment crunch (about 2% less) that the USA is now feeling. It's largely cultural, but America seems to have a large percent of the population that actually believes that they "save money" by not demanding better quality and innovation (like Apple). Let's hope this changes.