Apple & Microsoft duke it out for top tech spot; will Steve Ballmer get TKOed?
Apple has been looking pretty shiny since Wednesday, having just crossed a golden threshold: slipping past Microsoft in "market capitalization"— the valuation of a company based on its current stock price multiplied by number of shares available; as well as "enterprise value" which is market cap, plus debt and minus cash holdings. Speculation had been rampant for months whether it would ever happen; and then, on Wednesday— surely to be memorialized in computer lore— after a wild ride on the market, AAPL ended the day worth a few billion more than its frenemy MSFT.
Apple was now not only the top technology company in the world, it was the second highest valued company in America (behind Exxon-Mobile.) Thursday, MSFT and AAPL traded neck-and-neck in valuation, but by the market close, Apple held the crown for a second day.
Blogging from Microsoft
So I'm in the Seattle-area over the Thanksgiving holiday... when the big snowy thing hits, and we're stuck 30 miles from my relatives' home right at the start of rush-hour. The highway is going about a mile an hour, and the minivan I'm driving is rapidly running out of gas. Fortunately, after an excruciating 1.2 miles, we make it to an exit. A fill-up and we take to the backroads- finally arriving a mere four hours after we started. My cousin and his wife, heading out of Redmond half an hour behind us, aren't so lucky - they end up staying the night with some family friends, getting in at six in the morning.
The next day, we're all stuck at the house, where I snap some snow laden trees, which explains the new wintery theme. Today, I fly back. But at the moment, I am sitting in my cousin's office at Microsoft, using his Toshiba tablet with hand writing recognition. It's geek-tabulous. It may be slower than typing, but it's oh-so Star Trek.