苹果市值超微软成全球最大科技公司

爱思英语编者按：据路透社报道，周三苹果的市值终于超过微软，成为世界上最大的科技公司。这对于一家上世纪90年代还处于破产边缘的公司来说，具有里程碑意义。

总部位于加州库珀蒂诺的苹果公司已经是标准普尔500指数成份股里第二大公司，仅次于能源巨头埃克森美孚公司。苹果股价的快速上涨也预示着市场出现了一种新的文化趋势：消费者口味比企业需求更重要，成为技术成形的主导力量。

科技界风投资本家吉姆·布雷尔（Jim Breyer）认为，这是他在硅谷见到的最重要的一次企业复活。

随着苹果不断发布革命性的消费电子产品，包括iPod播放器、iPhone手机、MacBook笔记本和iPad平板电脑，其股价在10年里涨了10多倍。与之对照，微软的发展开始放慢，股价与10年前相比下跌了18%左右。

上月苹果CEO史蒂夫·乔布斯（Steve Jobs）表示，因iPhone手机需求强劲，季度利润同比增长约1倍，营收增长49%。而在4月3日上市的iPad平板电脑已经在美国售出100多万台，并且出现断货现象。

Apple Inc shot past Microsoft Corp as the world"s biggest tech company based on market value on Wednesday, the latest milestone in the resurgence of the maker of the iPhone, which nearly went out of business in the 1990s.

Apple"s shares rose as much 2.8 percent on Nasdaq on Wednesday, as Microsoft shares floundered, briefly pushing its market value above $229 billion, ahead of its longtime rival.

Both stocks ended down after a late-day sell-off, but Apple emerged ahead with a market value of about $222 billion, compared with Microsoft"s $219 billion, according to Reuters data.

Apple shares closed down 0.4 percent at $244.11 on Nasdaq, while Microsoft fell 4 percent to a seven-month low of $25.01.

Shares of Apple are worth more than 10 times what they were 10 years ago, as it has profited from revolutionizing consumer electronics with its stylish, easy to use products such as the iPod, iPhone and MacBook laptops.

The last time Apple had a higher market value than Microsoft was December 19, 1989, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Microsoft, whose operating system runs on more than 90 percent of the world"s personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its hey-day 1990s. Its stock is down 20 percent from 10 years ago.更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

Apple, which struggled for many years to get its products into the mainstream, resorted to a $150 million investment from the much larger Microsoft in 1997 in order to keep it afloat. At that time, Microsoft"s market value was more than five times that of Apple.

Microsoft still leads Apple in sales. In the latest quarter, Microsoft reported $14.5 billion in revenue compared with Apple"s $13.5 billion.

Cupertino, California-based Apple is now the second-largest company on the Standard & Poor"s 500 index by market value, behind energy behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp.