Microsoft has been the face of technology since the computer became personal. But today, Apple overthrew Microsoft’s throne as the most valuable technology company in the entire world. Good thing is, you don’t have to choose sides: you can own both in one exchange traded fund (ETF).
On Wednesday, Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) market value shot past Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) for the first time ever, reports Miguel Helft and Ashlee Vance of The New York Times. As of Wednesday, Apple was valued at $222.12 billion compared to Microsoft at $219.18 billion.
Only a decade earlier, Apple was given up for dead as Microsoft’s Windows and Office products took the PC industry by storm. Dell founder Michael S. Dell went so far as to suggest that Apple should shut down and return money to its shareholders. Microsoft’s chief technology officer at the time proclaimed Apple dead. [First Trust Makes a Name for Itself.]
But with Steve Jobs back at the helm of Apple in 1996, the company embraced a very prescient modus operandi: to marry hardware and software in the creation of beautiful and effortless consumer machines. Jobs understood that technology would be shaped by consumer tastes more than business needs.