At the close of markets on Friday, Apple had a bigger market cap than Microsoft and Intel combined — the so-called Wintel alliance that almost buried Apple a decade ago.
Here’s how much Apple, Microsoft and Intel were worth on Wall Street at the end of the week:
Add it up. Wintel = $316.8 billion. Apple = $317.60 billion
As MacDailyNews, which first noticed the numbers, points out — 13 years ago Bill Gates said he was puzzled why Steve Jobs would want to return to the troubled company he cofounded:
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
Perhaps the day that Bill Gates returns to his own troubled company isn’t too far away?
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
43 responses to “Woah! Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft And Intel Combined”
Intel, like Apple, makes innovative things people like. Microsoft keeps making debugged copies of the same old software that they cobbled together years ago. Their only saving grace is the inertia of their users.
Is there a source for the quote?
Well that is why such mutterings are called “Famous Last Words”.
I could see repeating the quote maybe 2-5 years after it was said…but nearly 15 years later??
Someone’s been holding a grudge for quite a long time!
step out of your room and take a look outside.
welcome to 2011
Hi Bill, Nice to hear from you. How’s Melinda?
:)
I think it’s spelled “whoa”
Considering Apple now has billions upon billions to allow them to do whatever they want does this mean Jobs will finally get off his gold plated crapper and finally do something about doing business with a hellhole Chinese sweatshop?
More shocking was Bill’s quote on the internet, that it was all rubbish. The best of all was his remark that 128k RAM would be enough for everybody in our time…
The fact that he used the word ‘winning’ is, to me, quite disturbing. Is everything about ‘winning and loosing’ ? No wonder he never had any scrupulous about the way he did business. He doesn’t care about people. They are consumers ! He didn’t care about the folks at IBM loosing their jobs and homes…
Is his foundation paying off his conscious ?
it’s spelled (or spelt) either way
Big deal.
I can imagine Jobs’ smile, but i doubt he cares that much.
Perhaps the day that Bill Gates returns to his own troubled company isn’t too far away?
a certificate of incompetence to himself?
why blame Balmer?
He’s wearing Bill’s sleepers.
Microsoft inertia is its eagerness – a la a mindless pop star – to have the biggest market share – like selling more albums.
that is the biz strategy that Germany din’t buy, remember how British leaders used to brag that UK will smash Germany, because it sided with manufacturing instead of bold financial moves as UK and USA were doing?
Now UK and the USA struggles adding jobs because the same bold financial moves did crippled their economy, while Germany ( sadly the current German chancellor could not build upon what she inherited ) manufacturing is getting the work done creating jobs because there is a explosion of middle class in China and Brazil and India with lottsa money.
– that summarizes Microsoft strategy, i hope they are smarter and start to move their ass. Depend on What you create, STOP selling others goods.
In Portugal, if you are in college, having a Mac outside art classes is a hurdle.
Microsoft has the Portuguese state under its wings. And that is the same for many countries.
Having that amount of money, makes competing with Windows and Droid vendors cartel easier?
— NO!
and we are in a world where leaders no longer care about the unemployed people, they are afraid of the big banks, those more interested on social engineering thru debt scare than the well being of people that actually creates sustainable wealth.
Apple shareholders are for the money at any cost, and Steve Jobs beware if he put out his 60’s rainbow teeth.
Actually, Bill said: “640K of memory should be enough for anybody.”
Why would Bill Gates return to Microsoft? He knows better he can’t win.
Oh Mr. Gates, how wrong you were. Again. It didn’t take long for Apple to get back on it’s feet as a company as soon as Steve went back to Apple those many years ago. Also, I still remember when Michael Dell said this about Apple back in 1997 if he were CEO: “I’d shut it down, and give the money back to the shareholders.” Oh Mr. Dell, how you and Mr. Gates were both wrong.
When Steve went back to Apple, he changed what was happening internally with the company and also the products they were making too; the iBook was the first laptop to have a built-in wi-fi card (which was unheard of at the time), Apple was the first company to get rid of floppy drives in the Mac line of products (people freaked when they did this), Apple was the first to include Superdrives in Apple computers (along with CD burner and DVD-ROM combo together), Apple invented FireWire, and Apple changed the MP3, smartphone, and tablet area forever! As for Microsoft, well, they are trying to play catch-up with Apple not just in the tablet area, but also the smartphone arena too. They tried playing catch-up in the MP3 arena with the Zune (5 years after the release of the iPod), but after a 5 year struggle with the hardware, Microsoft killed off the Zune hardware (a lot of my friends called the Zune “a poor-man’s iPod”), Windows Phone 7; it was dead before it came out the door, and for a Windows tablet….I don’t have high hopes for that either; another DOA device before it hits the market. I, on the other hand, don’t hold high hopes for Microsoft to get back to the company it once was; it missed a LOT of chances to change their line of products, but after blunder (Zune), after blunder (Vista), after blunder (Windows Phone 7 with their update that bricked MANY Windows Phone making them unusable), I’m not going to hold my breath for Microsoft to change. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, than I must be an idiot.
Oh Mr. Gates, how wrong you were. Again. It didn’t take long for Apple to get back on it’s feet as a company as soon as Steve went back to Apple those many years ago. Also, I still remember when Michael Dell said this about Apple back in 1997 if he were CEO: “I’d shut it down, and give the money back to the shareholders.” Oh Mr. Dell, how you and Mr. Gates were both wrong.
When Steve went back to Apple, he changed what was happening internally with the company and also the products they were making too; the iBook was the first laptop to have a built-in wi-fi card (which was unheard of at the time), Apple was the first company to get rid of floppy drives in the Mac line of products (people freaked when they did this), Apple was the first to include Superdrives in Apple computers (along with CD burner and DVD-ROM combo together), Apple invented FireWire, and Apple changed the MP3, smartphone, and tablet area forever! As for Microsoft, well, they are trying to play catch-up with Apple not just in the tablet area, but also the smartphone arena too. They tried playing catch-up in the MP3 arena with the Zune (5 years after the release of the iPod), but after a 5 year struggle with the hardware, Microsoft killed off the Zune hardware (a lot of my friends called the Zune “a poor-man’s iPod”), Windows Phone 7; it was dead before it came out the door, and for a Windows tablet….I don’t have high hopes for that either; another DOA device before it hits the market. I, on the other hand, don’t hold high hopes for Microsoft to get back to the company it once was; it missed a LOT of chances to change their line of products, but after blunder (Zune), after blunder (Vista), after blunder (Windows Phone 7 with their update that bricked MANY Windows Phone making them unusable), I’m not going to hold my breath for Microsoft to change. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, than I must be an idiot.
The graphics of Microsoft and Intel are almost the same, shows the strong relationship between both companies (Wintel)
I don’t really understand stocks and the economic market that well, can someone explain for me how this affects me as a devoted apple consumer? Will the prices get lower for example?
Bill gates just got a kick in the face right in his star student cheif engineer and him ungraduated CEO face
You guys are all wrong.
” Apple changed the MP3, smartphone, and tablet area forever! “
Post some real facts please
http://www.2imgs.com/6c941c36e…
Dickusmagnus apple is far from being innovative, if you look at apples track record they are always behind on coming out with products. They learn from everyones mistakes and make it better. Apple was far from the first touch screen mobile phone…
Hey lol. Right. bill gates the billionaire worth ten times of what steve jobs was worth while alive despite donating billions is the one who received the kick in the face and not jobs who died a painful emaciating death at the hands of pancreatic cancer. I dont even like gates but i find these pathetic comments hilarious.
Why would that be his famous last words? He is still alive and well with more money then you i and our extended families can spend in ten life times while jobs is dead from cancer.