back to article Apple now most valuable company OF ALL TIME

Apple first earned the title of the world's highest-valued company in 2011, but rumors about the impending iPhone 5 sent its stock soaring to new heights on Monday, earning it a new distinction, that of the highest-valued company in stock market history. Shares of the fruity firm swelled more than 2 per cent on Monday, topping …

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  1. Nate Amsden

    fear not

    facebook will get to it's $1T valuation at some point (probably won't be inflation adjusted to 2012 dollars though)

    1. Shagbag

      Typical journo rubbish

      While they all hailed the large market cap, I had to Google to find out the more important info:

      The company's ``price-to-earnings ratio'' is 15.6, compared to 16.1 for the S&P 500 overall. That suggests investors, unlike analysts, don't believe the company can grow its profits much from current levels.

      There you have it. Unless the Board of Apple can pull another rabbit out of the hat like they did with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, then the stock is fully valued. With the TV industry in the doldrums and Steve Jobs no longer with them, it's difficult to see how any rumoured new Apple consumer appliance will maintain their momentum.

      Like many others, I'm old enough to remember what happened to Apple Computer Inc the last time Steve Jobs departed from the company he co-founded.

      1. Paul_Murphy

        Re: Typical journo rubbish

        Like many others, I'm old enough to remember what happened to Apple Computer Inc the last time Steve Jobs departed from the company he co-founded.

        Yep - but this time he ain't coming back, not unless he has his brain in a jar somewhere... sorry that would be in an iJar I suppose.

      2. Rolf Howarth
        Coat

        Re: Typical journo rubbish

        What you say about P/E ratio makes no sense. That the P/E ratio is low is good isn't it? It means that the value of the stock is based on actual performance, not an inflated hyped up value that has no bearing to reality (compare with Facebook with a P/E of 111, even after its embarassing price drop).

        Put it another way, if Apple were as hyped as Facebook, their share price could go up another 7x or 8x what it is now, even without any increase in revenue. Or put it another way still, most investors are rubbish at judging the true value of stocks.

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          FAIL

          Re: Typical journo rubbish

          > most investors are rubbish at judging the true value of stocks

          This might well be because after all the bailouts and crony stuffing of the recent years, there is so much loose money in the system and so few performing economic areas (people seem to be hoping that the next bubble will lift them out of the doldrums; well, good luck with that) that it sloshes towards anything which might promise a few additional percent of return. There is pensions to pay and there is interest to pay back. Well, good luck with THAT.

          Just out of curiosity I checked the Dow Jones. It's back at pre-bust level... NOPE!

      3. Hans 1
        Boffin

        Re: Typical journo rubbish

        Well, I am old enough to know that what you write could have been written back in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007.

        While I do not think they can grow indefinitely, they have quite a lot of new kit up their sleeves, just waiting for the proper moment to come out.

        As for SJ, the first time he left the company was a completely different story - the sales guy was in charge back then.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: fear not

      All empires rise then dominate for a few years before........

      They crash and burn!

      1. FartingHippo
        Trollface

        Re: fear not

        "All empires rise then dominate for a few years before........

        They crash and burn!"

        So Linus Torvalds is really Luke Skywalker? No that can't be right, after all the emperor is already dead.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: fear not

      Nah, the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation will have going to be the biggest in the known universe sometimewhen but they crashed and burned when it was noticed that their OSs never actually worked.

      (With apologies to HHGG which did it all so much better)

  2. Dana W
    Thumb Up

    As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

    Mwhahahahahahahaha!

    1. streaky
      Mushroom

      Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

      It was pretty clear at the time that Microsoft was hugely overvalued. And Apple and Microsoft aren't even close to in the same business. And it's also clear that Apple is hugely over-valued to the tune of at least 4 times.

      "Mwhahahahahahahaha!" - I don't get this at all, it's market cap. Why would any customer give a toss about market cap unless they were sick in the head?

      1. Dana W
        Happy

        Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

        Its called a sense of humor. I'm mostly laughing at all the people who told me when I got my first Mac in 2005 "Don't get a Mac, they won't even make those in a few more years"

        And despite all of your attempts to be a killjoy, I'll enjoy a good gloat. After all the abuse we took over being Mac users we get to finally have a laugh. You fail at buzzkill.

        1. Arctic fox
          Headmaster

          Re: "As an Apple fan I'd just like to say..." I think that you will find that the ones doing........

          ........the laughing are Apple and their major shareholders. Now, who might they be laughing at, hmm?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Joke

          Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

          If you'd been REALLY smart you'd hav bought a cheap winbox and invested the remainder in Apple stock. Now THAT would've been serious money by now.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Yes, Microsoft was overvalued back then...

        But it doesn't follow that Apple is overvalued now. Look at the respective P/E ratios. Microsoft's was crazy high (well, crazy high by traditional standards, but by the standards of the late 1999 dotcom bubble it was only slightly high)

        Apple's P/E is quite reasonable, especially when you back out it's current cash hoard, and is making enough profit to justify it's current valuation, factoring in some modest growth over the next few years - much less growth than they've had lately. If Apple had the crazy P/E that tech darling Amazon does its stock price would be about 13000!

        Of course, a tech company is always riskier in the long run than an oil company. You wouldn't want to buy a tech company's stock and then not check prices for 10 years. But this would be a pretty reasonable thing to do as an Exxon investor. The risk of iPhone becoming obsolete (or smartphones as a whole) in a decade is much higher than the risk of oil becoming obsolete in a decade - hopefully we can obsolete it before it runs out...

      3. Shagbag

        It was pretty clear at the time that Microsoft was hugely overvalued.

        lol. Comments from the Super-investor.

    2. Jdoe1
      Pint

      Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

      And Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. They got your money, but they don't have mine. I'll have the last laugh.

      1. Dana W
        Meh

        Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

        Yes, they got my money, and I got a well built, reliable product I enjoy using.

        That's what a good company does. Whats your point?

        1. LinkOfHyrule
          Paris Hilton

          Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

          I really like the light switches and plug sockets in my house, they are very snazy. They have a retro 1950s roundedness to the corners and a satisfying clunk when you plonk a light on. You could say, that on many levels, they just work! Maybe I should find out who makes them so that I can become a fan of the company!

          1. VinceH
            Trollface

            Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

            "They have a retro 1950s roundedness to the corners"

            Are Apple aware of this unlicensed use of their designs?

            1. LinkOfHyrule

              Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

              That's a point isint it - those old light-switches have both rounded corners and only one button on their face.

              I've basically got twenty knock off iPhones stuck on my walls!

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Electrical fittings

            They're probably MK - mmm, shiny white, rounded-corner goodness...

            1. LinkOfHyrule

              Re: Electrical fittings

              Of course - MK are the Apple of electrical fittings arnt they!

              My consumer unit is Crabtree though I think - I guess thats like having a load of Macs connected to a Windows server aint it!

        2. John Bailey

          Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

          The point is dear Dana.. they got so so so much of your money for so so so very little in return..

          No matter how you justify it to yourself.. The reality is you paid too much for too little, and will do so again and again.

          As a non anything fanboy All I can say is HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

      Being a fan of a corporation is bizarre, gloating over their market cap as if that has a bearing on the quality of their products is worse still. I like Apple products and own shares in them, but I'd be be embarrassed to make that kind of post.

      1. Dana W

        Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

        I listened to for years to.Microsoft talk about how it was Microsoft or nothing. Its not anymore.

        Microsoft has no shortage of Fanbois.

        1. streaky
          Pint

          Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

          "I listened to for years to.Microsoft talk about how it was Microsoft or nothing. Its not anymore."

          All I remember was Microsoft giving Apple money because Apple were bankrupt, effectively. I've said it before and I'll say it again- MSFT/AAPL aren't in the same business.. Yet.

      2. fixit_f
        Thumb Up

        Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

        "Being a fan of a corporation is bizarre"

        YES!!! ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON. It's such an odd thing to do.

    4. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

      Mac OS9

      /me runs screaming from the building

      1. Hans 1
        Linux

        Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

        Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinMe, WinXP, Vista, 7

        /me runs screaming from the building

        Funny? did not think so - lame? yes, just as lame as your comment ...

        1. Identity
          Coat

          Re: As an Apple fan I'd just like to say.....

          Windows CE, ME, NT

  3. raving angry loony

    Correction:

    Highest valued PUBLIC company. Who know how much some of those private companies are actually worth. Also, let's not confuse "market capitalization" with "value", although I guess it makes for more sensationalist press.

    1. Trevor Marron

      Re: Correction:

      At least El Reg have got the terminology almost right, the BBC have been reporting all night that Apple has become the world's BIGGEST company, and size-wise I would not think that Apple are even close.

      1. dotslash

        Re: Correction:

        Additionally, I've noticed how the BBC are massive Apple Fanbois where the tiniest piece of good news about Apple get major articles.

        The BBC: faking impartiality for years...

        Also, all it will take for Apple's stock to tumble is if the idiotic city investors stopped buying Apple stock because they think their own iDevices are better than sliced bread.

        1. Andy ORourke
          Thumb Up

          Re: Correction:

          Although I did hear on radio 4 this morning that inflation adjusted IBM was much larger than Apple so they do at least try to build in some balance.......

          1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: Correction:

            I did hear on radio 4 this morning that inflation adjusted IBM was much larger than Apple

            (Talking about the BBC, where "much larger" means "larger market cap".)

            I have no idea offhand what IBM's historic largest market cap is, but in the early '60s it was trading close to $600 a share, which in today's dollars is around $4200, according to my handy online inflation calculator. So that seems plausible.

            Really, reporting "largest market cap ever" without adjusting for inflation is worse than meaningless - it's deliberately misleading. And taking it as a sign of historic success (rather than simply success relative to the current market) is stupid.

  4. Spotswood
    Unhappy

    All that says to me

    is that we pay WAY TOO MUCH for petrol and Apple products.

    1. Dana W
      Trollface

      Re: All that says to me

      Hey, if you want a cheap plastic laptop, Dell is ready when you are.

      1. James Hughes 1

        Re: All that says to me

        Quite, my Dell works well (or it would without the crappy work enforced security software - not Dells fault), and cost a third of the cost of the equivalent Apple device. So, well done you for keeping up Apple share price - it's nice kit, but a bit overpriced for what you get.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: All that says to me

          There is no equivalent Dell, HP or Sony to an Apple Macbook pro - not one. You might find same cpu/mem/gpu, but Apple have engineered their mainboards so that you actually have "battery management" (as in you do not have to replace your battery every odd year, every four to five is good enough ), movement sensors and a lot of other little things. Then, you have BSDUnix with an easy to use ui and all the tools you could dream of, in there, ready for use ... like grep, sed, vi, dd, otool ... Mac OS X 10.4 feels more recent than Windows 7. Current Mac OS X is 10.8 ... You might prefer Wordpad and Notepad, your choice - MS Word cannot even format text properly when you delete stuff, it is always creative for you. Worse, even SAP employees, who use word a lot, tell me they have to copy paste text into notepad to get rid of the formatting then paste it back into word - I have not looked into it, tbh, but it sounds terrible. I did three months worth of their work in a day!

          That, and when you open a macbook pro in a public place, heads turn ...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: All that says to me

            Heads turn and say 'look at the twat with the macbook, thinks he's special because he overpaid for some shiny tat'

          2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: All that says to me

            Apple have engineered their mainboards so that you actually have "battery management" (as in you do not have to replace your battery every odd year, every four to five is good enough ), movement sensors and a lot of other little things

            As have other manufacturers. Battery life for my Dell and Lenovo laptops is close to the theoretical maximum for a LiIon battery - and what's more, I can replace them easily, using OEM or aftermarket batteries. My laptops all have tilt sensors and/or accelerometers and have survived considerable abuse (I've dropped the Lenovos onto hard surfaces plenty of times). And, yes, they call contain "a lot of other little things"; we call those "parts".

            you have BSDUnix

            Unixes of various flavors and Linuxes of various distributions are readily available for non-Apple laptops.

            an easy to use ui

            Subjective.

            all the tools you could dream of, in there, ready for use ... like grep, sed, vi, dd

            All of which I have on all my Windows machines, courtesy of Cygwin (and there are alternatives, so I have a choice).

            Mac OS X 10.4 feels more recent than Windows 7

            Subjective to the point of meaninglessness.

            [random rambling about Microsoft Word]

            Here's an idea: when you add sentences to a paragraph, try to make them relevant.

        2. Dana W

          Re: All that says to me

          I fixed Dells, they overheated, the cheap sleeve bearing fans in my gaming laptops died again and again. Keys fall off, the plastic cases groan and squeak.

          I had a dell go back for service SEVEN times. And yet the refused over and over to lemon it out . With Dell you get what you pay for. A poorly built, cheap plastic laptop, and the worst of India tech support.

          I'll pay more for what I ACTUALLY get.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All that says to me @ Dana W

        I can't help laughing that you paid twice as much as me for a laptop and yet......

        You can't do twice as many things with it.

        1. Dana W

          Re: All that says to me @ Dana W

          I can easily run three OS's. That seems sufficient.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All that says to me

        They also do nice metal ones, and Dells usually place nice with "other" OSs ... ;)

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All that says to me

        Of course Teletubbies-style plastic is OK if Apple do it, like the first MacBooks ;)

  5. senrik1
    Angel

    You mean

    The Catholic Church is not the most highly valued company ever?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You mean

      It'd have to be in the running for the most highly valued PRIVATE entity, but the post was about PUBLIC companies.

      In the case of the Catholic church, unless they reinstate indulgences, there's really no other way of getting a return on your investment.

      /joke

      1. P. Lee
        Devil

        Re: You mean (way OT...)

        > In the case of the Catholic church, unless they reinstate indulgences, there's really no other way of getting a return on your investment.

        Bingo! http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/05/02/catholic-church-allows-indulgences-again/

        Apparently the RCC has decided that the wages of sin is not death after all. You just get a bit of a beating.

  6. Mark Simon

    Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

    “Mind you, if we take inflation into account, Microsoft's bubble-era valuation looks even more impressive.”

    Yes, and so does its decline.

    Ballmer has recently re-iterated his intention to compete with Apple. Apple has not bothered reciprocating. Why? It’s clear who has the ideas, and who is taking direction.

    Oh, and regarding the cost of Apple products, the money I have spent on Apple products has produced a far more enjoyable experience, less frustration, and more productivity. The money I have wasted on Microsoft goes beyond the over-pricing of its software. It’s the time wasted on making things work.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

      Yes, Apple have the ideas, they have the solid state MP3 player, initially invented by Diamond. They have the GUI desktop, initially invented by Xerox. They have the mobile phone, initially invented by a consortium - Racal and Siemens & Motorola seem to spring to mind. They have the tablet computer, the first tablet OS was an MS effort, but tablets have appeared in Sci-Fi for decades. They had the Newton pad PDS, first PDAs were by Psion.

      Apple copy things which exist and generally make an excellent job of it, they do not do new products lines or concepts. I like quit a bit of Apple stuff, I just don't pretend that it's anything but a nice, well polished version of what has already existed, with a little good time to market thrown in.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

      Odd. I find the opposite, with Windows & Linux things 'just work' but on a Mac, unless I use only Apple products, getting things to work is a right pain in the arse! and since I can't stand ipods, ipads or iphones, th eonly apple product I use is a macbook air and that was down to it being tiny and light at the time I needed a tiny & light laptop...

      My Macbook has been more trouble than a Linux PC, that is for sure!

    3. Identity
      Boffin

      Re: Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

      I don't have the figures at hand, but Gartner (some ten or so years ago) did an ROI study and found that when all factors — training, repairs, replacement, etc. were factored in, Apples were cheaper per seat than Winboxen.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Microsoft Bashing Opportunity

        @Identity: However, the vast majority of enterprise software and serving is not available on MacOS, which counts them out.

        You should also note that certainly now, if not then, Apple don't come to site to fix anything, they expect you to go to them.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    fruity pedantry

    Oi, you. GDP is a unit of monetary flow, ie money per arbitrary chunk of time, in this case dollars per year. That's not quite comparable to valuation, ie what you'd have to plunk down now to buy all of the thing. So please don't try. Find yourself a better made-up-on-the-spot thing to compare to, that at least has comparable units, there's a good el reg hack, thanks.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yet another ElReg headline refuted by the article

    Its just a question of how long into the article you need to read before the headline is proved false. Microsoft 1999 was a bigger valuation unless you compare apples with oranges.

  9. attoman

    Must be the just about the peak of Apple. If you nerds had any you'd short the fruits for the worms can't be far behind.

  10. attoman

    Oh the best computer?

    The one between your ears.

    1. Sean Timarco Baggaley
      WTF?

      @attoman:

      Really? My brain has almost no memory worth a damn, fails epically at remembering numbers long enough to do anything useful with them (e.g. addition, subtraction, remembering my own f*cking phone number, etc.) It can't remember faces at all. And about the only thing I can store for any length of time is music.

      And I could have done without the dodgy eyesight too.

      If the computer between my ears is the best computer, I really need to get a refund, but it turns out Deity, Inc. offers no warranty whatsoever—not even the EU-mandated minimum of two years!

      At least Apple offers some half-decent customer support.

  11. Mickey Finn

    "Which leads your Reg hack to wonder what other companies might beat Apple's current valuation, once currency inflation is taken into account. The Dutch East India Company comes to mind. Are there others?"

    The Yanks might not like the Brits much... But when it comes to corporate shenanigans... We dun it first...

    South Sea Bubble anyone?

    http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/South-Sea-Bubble/

  12. Ketlan
    Devil

    IBM

    According to Radio Four about thirty seconds ago, if we allow for inflation, IBM circa 1967 was worth around twice Apple's current value and is thus the winner of the all-time most valuable company of all time (so far). So there.

    Actually, that surprised me. I would have assumed one of the oil companies to have taken the top position.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Inflation

      Interesting. Though there are, of course, lots of different ways of defining and computing inflation, so the answer might not be definitive.

    2. JimmyPage Silver badge
      Gimp

      Re: IBM

      Thank you sir! (Or madam) - Clearly I am in the upper bracket of El Reg commentards, as I remember when IBM held this crown, and various articles pointing out that they were in effect richer than several countries by miles ... this was in the 70s. I was surprised I had to read so many comments before it was mentioned.

      Contemporary fanbois might do well to ponder this, and look where IBM is today.

    3. PhilipN Silver badge

      Re: IBM

      Probably Standard Oil before it was broken up. Put together today's progeny from the break-up and it will give more than a clue.

      1. David Webb

        Re: IBM

        A quick gander at wikipedia gives....

        Company with $781b worth in 2005 which if it's worth roughly the same amount now is more valuable than Apple.

        Apple would be (currently) the most valuable company by share value, Aramco is private so it's value is actually based on what it's really worth.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Aramco

          What do you mean "it's value is actually based on what it's really worth"? There is no value it's "really worth", other than what someone will pay for it. The only way to truly value a privately held company is to put it up for bid and see what someone will pay for it, and the buyer is left to come up with his own value for it based on it's earnings and prospects for future earnings. i.e., the same way people try to value public companies like Apple, by looking at their current earnings and determining what they believe about their prospects for future earnings.

          FYI - there was an articlein FT in 2010 where someone estimated Aramco's value at $7 trillion. There's going to be a wide range of estimates for private companies, because they don't release their financial information in the way public companies do. There are also no consequences for overestimating the value of a private company you can't or have no intention of trying to buy...

    4. Armando 123

      Re: IBM

      IIRC, at one point John D. Rockefeller controlled about 23% of the wealth in the US.

      </DAYUMN>

  13. toadwarrior

    I like how the haters here who spend a considerable amount of time just on this site talking about apple are calling fanboys sad for cheering a company.

    Yes, that may be true but it's infinitely less sad than spending each day hating on a company on the internet.

    Fact is, apple make good hardware and software. People are getting fed up with windows. So until someone can come up with a good bit of hardware with quality software on top of it, apple will continue to do well.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

      I don't really understand the "good software, good hardware argument".

      You might be confusing "pretty" for quality. But it would be difficult to argue that an 11 year old franken-GUI with all sorts of crap tacked on and cut out and welded together is a good software product. Especially with the outmoded, rubbish video drivers. And the mac 10.x.0 false start release cycle.

      The hardware is not fantastic, I have had two faults for which I was only covered by extended apple care, and would have been screwed by a out of warranty repair otherwise. Both faults were detailed online as something which regularly happens to macs.

      So maybe iOS is the "good hardware, good software" you are talking about? Again, I would call it pretty. I don't see anything which indicates a particularly interesting software implementation. It certainly feels a little more robust than OSX, but then iOS doesn't have to do an awful lot. And hasn't really innovated in its design space ver 6 iterations.

      Perhaps you can enlighten me without using any emotionally charged phrases as to where the "good" stuff is.

      (To save time, comment Sent from my iPad)

      1. DZ-Jay

        Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

        >> "I don't really understand..."

        >> "franken-GUI with all sorts of crap tacked on..."

        >> "the outmoded, rubbish video drivers..."

        >> "I would call it pretty..."

        Wow. talk about emotionally charged phrases. Such angst! Such passion!

        You should really let them be and think of your own. Stop wasting yourself hating a face-less company that has done nothing to you.

        You'll be happier, trust me.

        -dZ.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

          Do you actually know what emotions are?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

        Someone gave me an OSX Mac laptop to play with. I was being very openminded and checking it out generally and having fun.

        I crashed it in less than 10 minutes.

        Tried an iPad, again, had lots of fun, didn't crash at all. I can see why they dropped the "Computer" bit from their name and are concentrating on iOS ;) I think ultimately they will turn into something like Bose (product promotion by lawyers) or a very fucked-up version of Bang & Olufsen :P

        Incidentally I can't believe they were so un-tech-savvy that they didn't notice Cisco already have an operating system called IOS, do they not know what a search engine is ;)

        1. tehwabbit

          Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

          "Incidentally I can't believe they were so un-tech-savvy that they didn't notice Cisco already have an operating system called IOS, do they not know what a search engine is ;)"

          If they insist on using Bing as a search engine, it's no suprise they don't find anything!

        2. Tom 38
          FAIL

          Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

          Incidentally I can't believe they were so un-tech-savvy that they didn't notice Cisco already have an operating system called IOS, do they not know what a search engine is ;)

          Irony fail

      3. moosh2012

        Re: OSX is shoddy, hardware is commodity, only iOS?

        > Perhaps you can enlighten me without using any emotionally charged phrases as to where the "good" stuff is.

        Owned an imac since 2004 - Number of crashes (H/W, S/W) : Zero

        Macbook since 2007 - Number of crashes (H/W, S/W) : Zero

        Macbook Pro since 2012 - Number of crashes (H/W, S/W) : Zero

        My Solaris servers at work since 2006 (i do not own them!) - Number of crashes (H/W, S/W) : Zero

        Interface is so easy, everyone in the family uses it without any problem. We use them for everyday home (and some business) use: Internet, email, photo, movie office (openoffice), etc.

        My smarthone is andriod based. Fine until I tried to upgrade. No luck since HTC cant be bothered!

        I do not waste my time fixing/rebooting/reinstalling/etc. You want quality, you pay for it.

    2. VinceH
      Mushroom

      "less sad than spending each day hating on a company on the internet."

      It's okay. I also hate them when I'm not on the internet. I hate them in bed, when I'm eating lunch, when I'm driving... hell, I even hate them when I'm on the toilet.

  14. You have not yet created a handle

    That is all...

    http://m.techcrunch.com/2012/08/20/apple-is-not-the-most-valuable-company-in-the-history-of-the-world-ibm-won-the-prize-in-1967-with-a-value-of-1-3-trillion/

  15. Gordon Pryra

    @ After all the abuse we took over being Mac users we get to finally have a laugh.

    Yeah, grats, but your computer still cant count though...

  16. Tom_
    Happy

    Hindsight

    Many moons ago, a colleague of mine spent his bonus on Apple shares at $20 each, while I spent mine on DVDs. Not shares in DVD making companies. Just DVDs.

    Skills!

  17. &rew
    Meh

    British Rail?

    I seem to remember somewhere that the British Rail network was the largest, most valuable company at one point. I wonder where the NHS would fit in?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: British Rail?

      There was an excellent piece of work by Radio4's more or less which looked at this. It goes:

      US DOD (although strictly speaking this is several separate organisations army/navy/air force etc)

      China PLA

      Walmart

      McDonalds (although strictly speaking a series of franchises)

      NHS

      Source:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17429786

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: British Rail?

      Well, BR had some unbelievable hardcore technology. For example the Deltic diesel motor commissioned from Napier.... 3 crankshafts arranged parallel in a triangle ... no cylinder heads ....

      based on a Junkers design, but expanded, Junkers never successfully managed to do more than 2 crankshafts AFAIK. Also, apparently a junior lad in the Napier design workshop made the fateful step of figuring out that the 3rd crankshaft had to rotate the opposite way to make it all work properly!

      Used in BR locomotives in pairs, also as used in Tjeld/Nasty class fastboats ... http://www.ptf3restoration.org/historyofptf3.html 2 motors, 6200hp total. These boats appear to have been used to harass the North Vietnamese, leading to you-know-what :P

      This motor type is still being used in these : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunt_class_mine_countermeasures_vessel

      http://www.ptfnasty.com/ptfDelticdisc.htm

  18. Antti Roppola
    Holmes

    Tulips

    East India? Better rush out and buy me some tulips...

  19. The Original Cactus

    New RSU?

    When describing large sums of money use apples. One apple being equal to the combined GDP of Hong Kong, Israel, and Singapore.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: New RSU?

      As has probably been pointed out several times already: GDP is money per unit of time so it can't be used to describe a sum of money as the units don't match. On the other hand, since journalists are apparently incapable of distinguishing power and energy ...

  20. Zog The Undeniable

    Badge engineering

    There's money in selling Chinese electronics with a 100% markup to meeja types and fashionistas.

    It's all about the badge. Do you really think a BMW 3-series costs a whole £10,000 more than the equivalent Ford Mondeo to build? And that's why BMW is also so profitable.

    1. Armando 123

      Re: Badge engineering

      I'm in the market for a new car and have test-driven the US equivalent to a Mondeo and a 3-series. The 3-series is a better car, particularly noticeable when going through the roundabouts and traffic circles in the town where I live. Now, is it $10K better? I don't think so, but others would disagree.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sure if I sold all my products at an over inflated price and my company did nothing for charity/research, they would be up there too.

    Completely retarded, Apple wouldn't be worth nearly half as much if they sold their products at a normal price.

    1. Tom 38

      See, it is a subtle trick. Any fool can try to sell their products at an over inflated price, but most don't end with a ridiculously profitable company with swimming pool sized reserves of cash, which suggests something else is at play.

      It is of course helpful for you to point out that if Apple tried to not be as successful as they could be, they would not be as successful as they are. I'm sure you will do well at the World Tautology Finals.

  22. Alistair MacRae

    How about that Italian bloke who has done cold fusion with the e-cat?

    Once Andrea Rossi’s E-CAT stuff gets going if it's actually real then it should overtake Apple right?

    Unless Apple comes out with an iCat?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: How about that Italian bloke who has done cold fusion with the e-cat?

      Where's PETA?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How about that Italian bloke who has done cold fusion with the e-cat?

      I don't like Apple much but Rossi ? --Ah,ah,ah

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How about that Italian bloke who has done cold fusion with the e-cat?

      You'll be wanting this link then.

      http://newenergytimes.com/v2/sr/RossiECat/Andrea-Rossi-Energy-Catalyzer-Investigation-Index.shtml

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How about that Italian bloke who has done cold fusion with the e-cat?

      Prefer Valentino Rossi, myself, VLF !

  23. hold2ransom
    Devil

    It's all a bubble!

    "The Governor and Company of Merchants of Great Britain Trading to the South Seas, and other parts of America, and for Encouraging the Fishery", better known as South Sea Company had a share price valuing the company at about £162 million in 1720 which would have been approx £2224179 million in 2005. The company did not produce anything so it was a purely speculative venture. It is not for me to say whether the products of Apple Inc are to be viewed as speculatively valued as I do own any of their products as I view taxation extracted by companies to be tantamount to theft.

  24. Al Jones

    Employment

    It's kind of scary to thing that a company can be that big without generating any meaningful employment. For all their faults, Microsoft were at least involved in a boom that was generating a lot of jobs - lots of people who weren't Microsoft employees were working in jobs that hadn't even existed 10 years before using and supporting Microsoft software, and interfacing it with hardware and software from other companies.

    But the iPhone and the iPad? Obviously there's work for developers in creating apps for companies whose websites wouldn't work on the iPad, but I don't think we're talking about huge numbers of people. If every iDevice in the world disappeared in a puff of smoke tomorrow, I don't get the feeling that it would represent a big disruption. If Exxonmobile products all disappeared tomorrow, it'd be a bit more of a problem, and if all the Exchange servers in the world turned themselves off tomorrow, it would probably cost a lot of companies a lot of money to recover, but if all the iDevices stopped working, there'd be a lot of unhappy people, but the wheels would keep turning.

    1. Tom 38

      Re: Employment

      Are you in some way kidding? Apple invented the mobile app store sector*, which last year disbursed over $5 billion to app developers. No jobs generated - can I get some of what you are smoking?

      * I'm not saying they invented "apps", "app stores" or "mobile apps", but they damn sure built the market place, got developers and users there, and got the users buying stuff from the developers.

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