Wal-Mart

Apple overtakes Microsoft, is now No. 2

Measured by market capitalization, it is second only to Exxon Mobil among U.S. companies

At the close of market Wednesday, Apple's (AAPL) share price stood at $244.11, down $1.11 (0.45%) for the day. Microsoft (MSFT), on the other hand, closed at $25.01, down $1.06 (4.07%).

Why is this significant? Because Apple's market capitalization ($221.36 billion) just overtook Microsoft's ($219.35) for the first time in 20 years, making it the second most MORE

Apple takes top spot among cell phone buyers

Consumer Reports ranks its stores above the rest despite high prices and limited selection

You might think that the best place to buy a cell phone is from the store that has the biggest selection or the lowest price or a connection to the carrier you'll be using.

But you would be wrong, according to the June issue of Consumer Reports. Based on a survey of 11,000 online subscribers, the magazine gave MORE

Welcome to your new "social" work life.

There is a race going on right now among software companies to become the Facebook for the workplace. Jockeying for position are behemoths like IBM (IBM), giants in-waiting like Saleforce.com (CRM), and a slew of smaller companies including Greenplum, Jive, LinkedIn, and Socialcast among others.

With its recently announced acquisition of CubeTree, you can now add SuccessFactors (SFSF) to the list of contenders, and one likely to move to the front MORE

Apple is No. 3, closing in on Microsoft

With its market cap at $213.9 billion, only two U.S. companies are bigger than Apple

Here's one way to measure Apple's (AAPL) progress in March, a month in which its stock price set 11 all-time highs.

On March 9, a few days after the company announced the iPad's ship date, Apple's market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding) was $198.5 billion, making it one of the five most valuable U.S. companies, right MORE

Apple overtakes Wal-Mart

Shares surge on iPad pre-orders, making Apple America's third most valuable company

UPDATE: That was short-lived. By March 15, Apple's market cap had fallen below Wal-Mart's once again.

Ninety minutes after Apple (AAPL) opened its online store for iPad pre-orders Friday morning, a burst of trading -- roughly 2 million shares in 30 minutes -- pushed its stock price to $227.73 and its market cap to $206.5 billion.

That, and a dip in MORE

Apple approaches $200 billion

With its record close Friday, it's now the 4th largest publicly traded U.S. company

When its shares closed at $218.95 Friday, Apple (AAPL) became one of the five biggest U.S. companies by market capitalization, right below Wal-Mart (WMT) and above Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A). (See chart at right.)

In the horse race most tech handicappers care about, however, Apple vs. Microsoft, the company has another $50 billion and change to go. Apple would MORE

Wal-Mart enters the battle of TV vs. the Internet

The retailing giant's purchase of a little startup has industry watchers wondering what happens next.

While everyone else was watching the Olympics on TV this week, TV and movie industry executives were watching a deal between Wal-mart and a little-known Silicon Valley startup.

That's because Wal-Mart said Monday it is buying Vudu, whose embedded technology enables viewers to buy or rent HD movies from a catalog of 16,000 titles via a broadband MORE

The anti-iTunes arms dealer

Online jukebox Lala hooks up with Facebook and Google. Together, can they mount a serious challenge to Apple?

Apple rules music retail for now: iTunes passed Wal-Mart (WMT) last year to become the top-grossing music store in the world. But that doesn't mean things will stay that way.

The latest challenge to iTunes comes from Bill Nguyen, the serial entrepreneur who founded Lala.com.

Palo Alto-based Lala is an online jukebox with 8 million MORE

Will Wal-Mart's Straight Talk squeeze wireless carriers?

Look out, U.S. wireless carriers: Wal-Mart is teaming up with billionaire Carlos Slim's América Móvil to train its price-crushing might on cell phones.

In time for the holiday season, the mega-retailer on Wednesday announced a nationwide roll-out of the new prepaid Straight Talk service, offered through América Móvil subsidiary Tracfone Wireless. Unlike mainstream wireless plans that pair cutting-edge phones with higher monthly fees and multi-year contracts, pre-paid services like Straight Talk MORE

Apple's growing slice of the music business - in pie charts

The NPD Group on Tuesday issued what at first appears to be a pair of contradictory facts:

Apple (AAPL) now controls the largest share of the music business, its iTunes Store accounting for 25% of unit sales in the first half of 2009, up from 14% in 2007.
Compact discs are still the most popular format for paid music, accounting for 65% of unit sales.

How can this be? The trick is that MORE