Showdown: Gates vs Jobs
While I was hiding from the world at TechCrunch Disrupt, Apple surpassed Microsoft in market value. People have been predicting this would happen sooner or later, but the media seemed shocked that it happened so soon. In the technology world, the number of Mac product users (iPod, iPad, MacBook, etc.) outweighs the number of PC users. I’ve always been a Mac user myself– I think Apple’s products are less buggy, flashier (not in the Adobe sense, of course), and easier to carry around. It’s not surprising to me that Apple’s stock caught up to Microsoft standards, especially with the release of the iPad, Steve Jobs’ most recent signature accomplishment. I’d bet that the new iPhone that supposedly comes out in July will only add to Apple’s success.
PC World put a nice spin on this story: Microsoft has been criticized for “being a greedy industry bully that used its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system to force software on users and coerce partners into unfair licensing deals,”. Will Apple, now the largest technology company in the world, become the corporate bully that everyone will hate on? PC World has this survey up on their site, and as of now the majority votes “no”.
-Gabrielle