Google finally edges Microsoft’s market cap, still has insurmountable climb to best Apple
Today marks one historical event that Google will probably be celebrating. For the first time ever, Google now has a market cap higher than rival Microsoft’s. Investors pushed Google about $1 billion ahead of the Washington tech giant with $248.82 billion for Google and $247.23 billion for Microsoft as of the time of this writing.
Google is said to have reached this point because of their ability to offer a multitude of successful computing products, most of which are designed to drive internet traffic back into Google’s bread and butter: ads and search.
No one can deny Google’s meteoric rise to dominance in the smartphone space with Android. After contributing to the efforts that made Windows Mobile and Blackberry OS nearly irrelevant, and after overtaking its biggest competitor Apple, Google has created a place for themselves in one of the most important technological markets there is.
Mobile is so big that Apple currently commands a staggering $617.76 billion market cap, much of which the iPhone is responsible for.
Apple doesn’t hold much weight in desktop computing compared to Microsoft, but its status as both software and hardware vendors, its hugely lucrative iTunes business, and its aforementioned mobile success alongside strong brand loyalty will make it difficult for Google to hit that next milestone. Apple would have to purposely sabotage its own company to come down from that pedestal anytime soon.
Regardless, today’s milestone is no doubt big for Google. Even if it turns out to be short lived, this changing of the guard will forever be acknowledged as the moment where Microsoft finally realized that mobile computing and a focus on strong internet services is just as important as the traditional desktop model. [via Financial Times]