Author Topic: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft* (Read 21,921 times)

app103 · « **Reply #25 on:** May 27, 2010, 01:05 AM »

Quote from: 40hz on May 26, 2010, 08:24 PM

Payable accounts aren't generally classified as debt. Most accounting conventions place them under the general operating liabilities heading. Or at least they did back when I got my degree (please don't laugh ) in accounting. But I freely admit that was quite a while ago, and things have gotten much more...creative...since I last slogged through the GAAP.

Try declaring bankruptcy and they suddenly end up on the list of your creditors to which you are in debt.

Innuendo · « **Reply #26 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:48 PM »

I find it interesting that I see Apple computers all over the place on TV and hear from all these satisfied Apple computer owners on the internet, but I can't seem to find one in real life and believe me, I've tried. Nobody I know and nobody they know own an Apple computer.

I make a special point to go observe the Apple PC area every time I venture into Best Buy and the observations are always the same. Plenty of people wander up and start playing with the Macbooks, iPads, etc., but the end results are consistent: After 30 seconds of playing around with the device they remark to the person they are with that it is too expensive for what it does, shrug, and wander 10 feet over to where the more practically priced PC notebooks and such are.

The reason Apple is so profitable is because of their MP3 players and their cell phone. Without those Apple would probably yet again be perilously close to bankruptcy and waiting for Microsoft to bail them out again with another check.

Even Apple realizes their computers are not the focus of their company anymore as they changed the name of the company from Apple Computer to just Apple.

zridling · « **Reply #27 on:** May 31, 2010, 04:04 AM »

Quote from: Innuendo on May 30, 2010, 02:48 PM

The reason Apple is so profitable is because of their MP3 players and their cell phone. Without those Apple would probably yet again be perilously close to bankruptcy and waiting for Microsoft to bail them out again with another check.

Which is why I consider Apple a gadget company, not a computer company. At least since the advent of the iPod. Their computer division is less than 10% of their annual revenue.

Paul Keith · « **Reply #28 on:** May 31, 2010, 07:45 AM »

In this day and age though, the gap is very small between gadget and computer company.

Let's not forget that it was only a decade ago that Apple supercharged the idea of a personal computer which in the past was a concept much closer to a gadget rather than a computer.

Paul Keith · « **Reply #29 on:** May 31, 2010, 07:55 AM »

Quote from: zridling on May 26, 2010, 11:57 PM

Okay, Apple is worth more than Microsoft (thanks to gadgets, not software). So what. Shouldn't change a thing for Microsoft except -- in my opinion -- to embrace more open standards and open formats to counter Apple's closed ecosystem built around that Sunday School called "App Store."

It's a game of cat and mouse IMO. Long term-wise, Microsoft's DirectX keeps Linux from having a much equal ground in game support.

The only huge difference is that Microsoft was the dominant leader then.

In a way, Apple's gadgets allow their software to have exposure like Itunes and they are far nearer to Microsoft than they were in any other period precisely because of the way software and hardware is intertwined nowadays.

It's really the price that has kept them back but it's uphill for MS too. You can only milk Windows 7 until you have to match up with the demands and then once the OS playing area gets evened out, it's much more of a reality for Apple to pull the Firefox of gadgets to catch up to Microsoft. Sure, Firefox is open source so the comparison is off except Firefox became this way after Netscape found a trick to breathe life to a dead horse.

With the way the App Store is working out for them, the only reason Apple is giving Google a chance is because they are open but nothing changes stubborn business like being out-competed in a near monopoly-level setting.

Josh · « **Reply #30 on:** May 31, 2010, 12:23 PM »

One thing stands out in my mind and that is this statement I have heard over and over again which rings true:

Quote

"Microsoft is a Software company which dabbles in small electronics. Apple is a hardware company which dabbles in software"

Microsoft does not produce large scale computers or devices. Microsoft really makes its money in software and putting that software on various devices. Yes, they have some hardware, but that, like Apple's PC division, is not where they make their big bucks.

rgdot · « **Reply #31 on:** May 31, 2010, 02:30 PM »

The biggest money maker for MS has always, at least in the last 15-20 years, been software (Office)
My opinion on Apple remains the same....power of hype and marketing and little more.

Josh · « **Reply #32 on:** May 31, 2010, 09:34 PM »

rgdot

Innuendo · « **Reply #33 on:** May 31, 2010, 10:27 PM »

Quote from: Josh on May 31, 2010, 12:23 PM

One thing stands out in my mind and that is this statement I have heard over and over again which rings true:

Quote
"Microsoft is a software company which dabbles in small electronics. Apple is a ~~hardware~~ small electronics company which dabbles in ~~software~~ computers."

Fixed that for you, Josh!

Josh · « **Reply #34 on:** May 31, 2010, 10:38 PM »

Close enough ;-)

Paul Keith · « **Reply #35 on:** June 01, 2010, 04:01 AM »

Apple is not the Microsoft of Mobile:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/1651578/apple-microsoft-mobile

Author Topic: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft* (Read 21,921 times)

app103

Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

Innuendo

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zridling

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Paul Keith

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Paul Keith

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Josh

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rgdot

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Josh

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Innuendo

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Josh

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Paul Keith

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