In one of the clearest signs yet of the renaissance that’s finally putting a close to The Dark Age of Personal Computing, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has overtaken Microsoft (MSFT) to become the second-most-valuable U.S. company.
Microsoft spent most of the trading day fending off Apple relentless assault — sometimes by excruciatingly small amounts — but, at approximately 2:15pm EDT, shares of Apple rose $4.35, or 1.78%, to $249.57, putting Apple’s market value at $227.10 billion and finally overtaking Microsoft’s which declined $0.20, or 0.77%, to 25.87, putting their market cap at $226.72 billion.
Watching it happen in real-time and then savoring the replay on 15-minute delay was doubly satisfying!
What I can’t figure out is why he (Steve Jobs) is even trying (to be the CEO of Apple)? He knows he can’t win. – Bill Gates, June 1998
Expect the companies to trade positions back and forth in the near term, but Apple should put the derivative Microsoft in their rearview mirror soon enough.
As per NYSE, the top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on full market values, are:
1. Exxon Mobil (XOM) – $283.06B
2. Apple (AAPL) – $227.10B
3. Microsoft (MSFT) – $226.72B
4. Wal-Mart (WMT) – $189.57B
5. Berkshire hathaway (BRKA) – $175.76B
MacDailyNews Take: Pop the corks! Congrats, Apple, on a job very, very, very well done!
One more thing… Boom!
Even though the figures will seesaw for a while yet, this news is gargantuan. I think what made this happen was HP ditching WinMo and going with webOS (snigger!). The rats are leaving the sinking ship, my friends – next up, Micky “Mouse” Dell will sell up and give the money back to the shareholders.
BLOODBATH!!!
=:~)
W2G Steve Jobs!
Yahhh Baby!
*clears throat*
AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
LOOK! MICROSOFT’S STOCK IS TAKING A DIVE ON THIS NEWS!
THIS IS KARMIC REVENGE FOR EVERY HAIRPULLING MOMENT I’VE EVER SPENT USING WINDOWS, YOU REDMOND BASTARDS! EVERY TECH SUPPORT CALL, EVERY MISSING DLL, EVERY WIPE AND INSTALL, EVERY INNOVATOR YOU SNUFFED OUT, EVERY ONE OF YOUR ASTROTURFING SHILLS AND BRIBED JOURNALISTS! DIE! DIE DIE DIE!!!
Aaaaaahhh…
MDN’s wrong, Apple and Microsoft aren’t gonna trade positions in the near term. The sheer IMPACT of this news is going to make MSFT crash(already happening) and AAPL rise to a point where Microsoft will never be able to clear the gap. That’s right. NEVER.
And if I’m wrong you’ll have to excuse me because I’m drunk on victory right now
MW: response. As an Steve Job’s response to Bill Gates. Starts with an F, ends with U.
This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of the Empire, and will soon see the end of many, many chairs.
It’s a happy day.
memo:
To All Apple Employees, Share Holders and Apple Fans.
Today Apple is larger than Msft. As it has been and always will be MSFT has no class or taste and makes crappy products while we forge ahead and press technology to the limits bringing great products that we’d like to own ourselves to the world.
Thank You all for Your Support
Steve P. Jobs
Hurrah–Go Apple!!
Next up: total revenue.
And some chair salesman in Redmond just hit his yearly sales quota.
MDN readers are today officially the happiest people on planet earth. And now I can die happy.
Just kidding about the last bit…!
Let them eat Cake!!!!
Keep shoveling the dirt on them! Die Microsoft and your always inferior copycat technology. True Innovation has won the day!
I have to print out and frame this article! The dark ages of computing are finally coming to and end!
Bril Steve
The board at MS might have some interesting things to talk about in the next meeting. It should be interesting to see what life boats are deployed off the listing ship that is the MS Ballmer. I predict insane amounts of Win 7 Mobile ads in the next 12 months trying to convince people that their 7th official attempt at a desktop OS is perfect, and the mobile OS of a similar name is exactly the same only better.
Wow, traders are just hammering Microsoft now. They’re under $220B, over $5B behind Apple at 3:22pm ET.
and to think this climb to the top all started with a little mp3 player called iPod. Apple had always been around since the birth of the PC, but was only praised by fanboys, artists, and those who just wanted something different. Now everyone finally sees that there is a cure for the common PC, MP3 player, and tablet. Apple products just work.
All hale the new tech leader!! The dark ages are over and a new age of enlightenment begins.
We’ll take that…our crown back!
Suh-weeeeeet!
It’s been a long time coming. I’d love to see an interview with Ballmer right about now. If he were anything but a cheap-jack used-car-salesman he’d show a bit of humility about all the mistakes he’s made and all the years of trash-talk about Apple. But that will never, ever happen. Humility and reality are simply not in the Microsoft DNA.
CHEERS!!!!!! and it is only JUST BEGINING!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
To a state of the art computing experience since 1984…
Payback’s gonna be a BIATCH!!!
singin “At Last”, the Etta James version
Get Steve Ballmer to kneel at Steve Jobs feet and kiss his sneakers. No more “rounding errors” will be heard from Redmond.
HHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLL YYYYYYYEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!