You just made my point.
Microsoft is an old giant trying to stay relevant. They are giant, but who is worth more?
Apple is worth more than Microsoft. End of story....
Apple is worth more, but only in the market cap and earnings arenas. That’s big, but, that’s not all that matters.
Microsoft is big. It’s earnings and profits are big.
It’s portfolio of products and services is huge,and much larger than Google and Apple combined.
If there were to be a “yard sale” for products and services from Microsoft and Apple, Microsoft would have a much bigger selection of things to sell, and would come out ahead of Apple, by a lot. Remember that, all that Apple would be able to sell would be their iPhone and iPad, and perhaps the iTunes service. Microsoft would have about 20 times the number of things to sell, and would likely come out with 20 times the earnings from that “yard sale”.
In about 3-5 years time, Apple won’t be as reliant on their iPhone to produce as much as it does now, and Apple will have to find a different or new product. I can see where Apple will have its market cap drop to $200 billion or below, and might even get to HP market cap levels. A one-trick pony can’t last forever. Google is basically in the same boat.