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Microsoft Profits Sink Below Apple's

Ipad puts Apple ahead of rival for first time since 1991

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 29, 2011 4:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – Apple's profits have outstripped Microsoft's for the first time since Extreme was topping the charts and Mark Zuckerberg was in second grade. Microsoft's revenue and profits were actually up last quarter, but Apple managed to move ahead for the first time in 20 years with a $6 billion profit on revenues of $24.7 billion, reports the Guardian, which believes this may mark a key moment in the industry.

Analysts say Microsoft has been stung by a steep drop in laptop sales as large numbers of consumers opt to buy tablet computers, especially iPads, instead. "You have to live underneath a rock not to know that the iPad has taken share from the netbook,” the chief of a major Microsoft shareholder tells Bloomberg. “It’s a problem on the consumer side, and that’s a market where Microsoft continues to give up territory to Apple.”

The iPad has helped Apple move ahead of Microsoft for the first time since 1991.
The iPad has helped Apple move ahead of Microsoft for the first time since 1991.   (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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It's all about innovation and the pace of innovation. The question to ask is: is there any product line in Microsoft that they are not playing catch-up on? - Trip Chowdhry, managing director
of Global Equities Research

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
JoeQ
Apr 29, 2011 11:55 AM CDT
It's all really just another round of the same old battles. Microsoft has been the Standard Oil of microcomputer software. Apple has been the benevolent dictatorship of closed architecture.
Twiny
Apr 29, 2011 9:38 AM CDT
Excessive profits aren't hard to make when you charge twice as much for the exact same hardware as your competitors do. The only difference between an Apple computer and anybody elses is the operating system. I also think you'll see the iPad fade fast as more tablets hit the market, at a better price.
bananana
Apr 29, 2011 9:21 AM CDT
So now that Apple is no longer the clear underdog, can we start supporting the Open Source movement instead?
 

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