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Apple's market value hits $600bn
Continue reading the main storyTechnology giant Apple has surpassed $600bn (£379bn) in value for the first time, affirming its position as the world's most valuable firm.
Apple shares reached a high of $644 on Tuesday, having only just crossed the $500 threshold back in February.
Apple's stock is up almost 60% since the start of the year.
It is another milestone for the iPhone maker, whose shares were worth as little as $3.19 in 1997 when it faced the possibility of bankruptcy.
Rival Microsoft is worth $260bn and in 1999, at the peak of the dotcom boom, reached $619bn in market capitalisation.
There has been some talk that there is another tech boom - and potential bust - under way.
On Monday, Facebook said it will pay $1bn to buy Instagram, the popular photo-sharing smartphone app, which has only 13 employees and was launched in October 2010.
Apple's resurgence
Apple's revival under Steve Jobs, who died last year, came about first in computers and then the iPod music player, which was followed by the iPhone and iPad.
Jobs co-founded Apple in Silicon Valley in the 1970s, but was fired in 1985.
He was asked to rejoin in 1997 and changed the company's product lines, culminating in the success of the iPhone and its tablet spin-off, the iPad.
In January, Apple reported record-breaking net profits for the last three months of 2011. At the end of last year, it revealed it had $97.6bn in cash.
In March, the tech giant under current chief executive Tim Cook said it will use its cash to start paying a dividend to shareholders and to buy back some of its shares.
It expects to use $45bn over the next three years.
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Comment number 158.
Jiminy Cricket11th April 2012 - 3:24
Apple products are far superior to any comparable ones. I had always owned a number of laptops/desktops with Windows O/S and so it was with a little hesitation that I purchased a Macbook Pro about 3 years ago. It has been faultless with no O/S issues at all. Although it is a highly competitive market, I see little for Apple to worry about. An apple a day keeps the virus away.
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Comment number 151.
SportsFan11th April 2012 - 1:43
It looks like it won't be long till Apple is worth $800bn or even $1tn. These values are ridiculously high but it reflects the massive demand for their excellent products. At the same time like all companies in the past, once they reach their peak in popularity, the demand for Apple products will fall and the this value of Apple will also fall. Look at Microsoft for example.
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Comment number 109.
dungolfin10th April 2012 - 23:41
I don't give a monkey's about their share price or about the negative comments on here - I love Apple. They have created or brought to market a whole generation of technology which simply didn't exist before. Their joined up thinking, excellence in design and attention to detail has seen their competition playing catch up year after year. Remember when PC's were all grey boxes? Apple changed that.
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Comment number 93.
Earlgray10th April 2012 - 23:03
It goes to show there's no logic in financial markets. Apples shares should be falling with their problems and lack of ideas for new products. Expect a big bump soon.
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