Thread: New King of Technology: Apple Overtakes Microsoft

New King of Technology: Apple Overtakes Microsoft

By MIGUEL HELFT and ASHLEE VANCE
Published: May 26, 2010

FRANCISCO — Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, overtook Microsoft, the computer software giant, on Wednesday to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

In intraday trading in the afternoon session, Apple shares rose 1.8 percent, which gave the company a value of $227.1 billion. Shares of Microsoft declined about 1 percent, giving the company a market capitalization of $226.3 billion.

The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $282 billion.

This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history, as Apple had been given up for dead only a decade earlier. But the rapidly rising value attached to Apple by investors also heralds a cultural shift: Consumer tastes have overtaken the needs of business as the leading force shaping technology.

Microsoft, with its Windows and Office software franchises, has dominated the relationship most people had with their computers for almost two decades and that was reflected in its stock market capitalization. But the click-clack of the keyboard has ceded ground to the swoosh of a finger across a smartphone’s touch-screen.

“It is the single most important turnaround that I have seen in Silicon Valley,â€

I don't understand how people buy Apple products, ESPECIALLY Patriots. Apple is a fascist dictatorship, plain and simple. You are only allowed to do what the almighty Jobs allows. They are closed-sourced, meaning that development of software is limited to Apple. This means that they do not allow competition. Why would anyone pay more for a product that is less powerful, and aren't allowed to customize it. Iphones are a great example of this. In order to get your iphone to work correctly, you have to hack it. I urge everyone to stop buying Apple products, so we aren't all subjected to Apple's draconian dictatorship.

DoJ investigating Apple for antitrust abuses in music
updated 10:00 pm EDT, Tue May 25, 2010
Apple said abusing iTunes lead to hurt Amazon

The US Department of Justice is investigating Apple for possibly using its dominance of online music to stifle Amazon, multiple sources alleged on Tuesday night. An inquiry in its "early stages" is determining whether Apple unfairly leveraged iTunes to deny exclusive music to Amazon MP3 and guarantee that any song would be available at both stores at the same time. Conversations so far are said by the NYT to have been broad and involved the nature of selling music online.

While pushing for equal or better access to songs isn't uncommon among music stores, Apple supposedly threatened music labels with taking away the usual marketing support, a potentially anti-competitive move that would have given Apple favorable treatment. The music would still have been sold on iTunes but, without promotion, would likely have sold in considerably lower numbers.

Neither the Department of Justice nor the involved companies agreed to comment.

Apple is still a minority in computers and phones but has a majority in American digital music at about 69 percent, according to NPD figures. Although it sells music in a DRM-free, broadly used format and prevents at least some degree of lock-in, its early position in per-track music sales and its sheer clout as the leading MP3 player seller make it costly for any label to either lose Apple's attention for a major release or to avoid the store altogether.

The same reports also back claims that the FTC is investigating iPhone developer rules for similar abuses at the behest of Adobe, which has felt slighted for the exclusion of Flash as a possible cross-development tool. It too is still young and may stand less of a chance of becoming a full case, as Apple doesn't have a majority position either in the US or worldwide.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10 ... rt.amazon/

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER BUY APPLE!!