Off Topic: What's the Apple computer company actually worth?

[Buzz Bumble]

This is from my latest MacFormat UK computer magazine ...

What's Apple actually worth?
619 billion US dollars sounds like a lot, but what can it get you in the real world? The short answer appears to be ... everything.

Once you get beyond a certain amount of money, the numbers become so big that they're mind-boggling: Apple's US$619 billion valuation means it's worth more than every single publicly traded company in Spain, Portugal, and Greece combined. Even Apple's bank account has the best part of US$100 billion in it, as as The Guardian reports, that's enough to pay for the entire UK education system and still have enough left over for some Ferraris and fancy yachts.

The only way to really appreciate the incredible size of Apple's market valuation is to work out what else you could buy with the same money. Never mind posh holidays, the odd day out, and a new sportscar: we're talking buying entire countries, funding the Olympics, and buying a luxury limousine for every day of the week. So what does 619 billions get you?

• 374 million ounces of gold
• 343 Dallas Cowboys (Forbes valuation)
• 4,952 really nice Greek islands (based on US$125 million asking price for Patroklos)
• 73 London Olympics (based on official budget)
• 123,800 Hubolt watches (US$5 million apiece)
• 2.14 Greeces (based on current debt of US$269 billion)
• 364 Space Shuttles
• 1,049 private yachts with missile defence (M/Y Eclipse, belonging to Roman Abramovich)
• 1,238 Emirates Palace Hotels, Abu Dhabi
• 3.1 Googles
• 389,000 Bugatti Veyron supercars
• 6,190 Mona Lisas
• 1,547 RMS Titanics (at today's prices)
• 5 billion barrels of oil
• 884 billion iTunes tracks
• 257 Manchester Uniteds (Forbes valuation)
• 2.4 Microsofts
• 364 New York Yankees (Frobes valuation)
• 1,358 Fraken-celebs, each made from:
  • Rihanna's legs (insured for US$1 million)
  • Dolly Parton's chest (insured for US$3.8 million)
  • Tom Jones' chest hair (insured for US$7 million)
  • Keith Richards' hands (insured for US$1.6 million)
  • Bruce Springsteen's voice (insured for US$31.2 million)
  • Michael Flatley's feet (insured for US$40 million)
  • David Beckham's legs (insured for US$70 million)
  • and J-Lo's behind (insured for US$300 million)
• 4 Greggs sausage rolls for EVERY man, woman, and child on Earth EVERY weekday for a month

 

[wookiee_cookiee]

Yum, sausage rolls!

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I read a new one last week that said Apple is worth something like six Dells.

Of course, the figures above are about six months old - Apple is worth even more now, and will get another big boost next week with the (almost certain) release of the new iPhone, and rumouredly a smaller iPad not long after that, plus updated iPods, updated iMac, a new 13" MacBook Pro laptop with a Retina display, and possibly the rumoured Apple TV set all before the end of the year.

 

[Borsk]

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Apple released the new iPhone 5 this week and one of the main changes was a slightly taller screen (now 4" diagonally) which gives one extra row of app icons ... so some have created these two Photoshop versions of the future iPhone releases:

and this one is even on topic (sort of):

 

[Borsk]

 

[Borsk]