Apple passes Microsoft as new tech leader

For the first time in 20 years, Apple's quarterly profits were higher than Microsoft's. Analysts attribute the decline in Microsoft to sales of the new tablet computers. Apple, which netted $5.99 billion in revenue last quarter to Microsoft's $5.23 billion, is the indisputable king. Sales of the iPad, which competitors and critics initially derided as a novelty item, have led Apple to hold onto 75 percent of tablet market share. See Huffpost Tech. According to an Associated Press article, "Close to oblivion in 1997, Apple is now the world's second-most valuable company, after Exxon Mobil Corp. On April 20, it reported net income of $5.99 billion for the January-to-March period, nearly double that of a year ago. It shipped a record 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter. Its iPad tablet computers are so popular, the company couldn't make enough."

Apple has been the most valuable tech company now for over a year, but the new figures point out the declining sales of Windows computers highlighted by Microsoft's reported decline in revenue from the Windows operating system for the second straight quarter.

I have always been an Apple fan since I bought my first Apple II back in 1982. I cannot begin to tell about all the condescending abuse I have suffered from Microsoft PC users over the years. I have been doing genealogy on computers since my Apple II and finally had to switch over to PC based systems because of computers at work. But in the past two years, I have switched back to entirely using Mac computers again. It is always comforting when the market place ratifies your personal decision.