Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) currently has a market value of$219.10 billion. Dell Inc. (DELL) has a market value of$25.32 billion.

Add them both together and Apple is worth more than Microsoft and Dell combined, $244.77 billion vs. $242.42 billion, respectively.

Now, let that headline percolate around in your brain and roll it off your tongue a few times – it’s really quite satisfying.

Congrats, Apple, for a job well done! Congrats, Jobs, for an Apple done well!

“The company, its leader, and its products have become cultural lingua franca,” Manjoo writes. “Dell wants to be the Apple for business; Zipcar the Apple for car sharing. Industries such as health care and clean energy search for their own Steve Jobs, while comedian Bill Maher says the government would be better run if the Apple CEO were head of state. (The Justice Department and FTC, which are both investigating Apple’s tactics, might disagree.)”

Manjoo writes, “This shorthand is useful but tends to encourage a shallow notion of what it takes to emulate Apple. And Apple doesn’t delineate the key factors of its success. Those principles are more closely guarded than its product pipeline.How does one become the ‘Apple of [insert industry here]?’ After speaking with former employees, current partners, and others who have watched Apple for many years, it’s clear that the answers center around discipline, focus, long-term thinking, and a willingness to flout the rules that govern everybody else’s business. It’s an approach that’s difficult to discern and tougher to imitate. But everyone wants to give it a try. Here, then, is our report on the Apple playbook.”

10 lessons from the coolest company on earth:
• Go Into Your Cave
• It’s Okay to Be King
• Transcend Orthodoxy
• Just Say No
• Serve Your Customer. No, Really
• Everything Is Marketing
• Kill the Past
• Turn Feedback Into Inspiration
• Don’t Invent, Reinvent
• Play by Your Own Clock

Full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews

“Pocket-lint’s source says,’We would welcome the opportunity to work with Apple to bring mobile video calling not only to our many millions of Skype users on iPhone around the world, but also to the countless more making video calls on desktops, TVs and other connected devices,’” Aimonetti reports.

“Clearly the ability to video call from Skype-enabled computers to iPhone 4 (and vice versa) would certainly be advantageous to all users involved,” Aimonetti reports. “This would also make the FaceTime functionality on iPhone 4, which is currently restricted to Wi-Fi, seem much more robust.”

Full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews

Let’s review the events in Apple-land over the past few months, shall we?

1. An Apple engineer either leaves an iPhone 4 prototype, or has one lifted from him, in a beer garden

2. Said iPhone 4 prototype gets plastered all over the world, taking away a meaningful measure of excitement from Steve Jobs’ planned reveal

3. During Jobs’ big unveiling of the already-unveiled, the Wi-Fi is so saturated by bloggers’ WiFi networks that he can’t do his demos properly, if at all

4. Apple has no backup plan in place for such a predictable situation

5. Beyond this point, I won’t even mention issuing the Safari 5 press release claiming immediate availability and then not having the pages or the download online for two hours (we’re used to that move from minor league iPod case makers, not Apple)

Perhaps Jobs is getting a bit soft as he grows older. Maybe he’s not banging heads even when heads beg to be banged?

Those four items above are silly, stupid, utterly predicable mistakes. That’s not the Apple, under Jobs at least, with which I am familiar…

Read more in the full article, with the opportunity to comment, over in our Opinion section here.

Source: MacDailyNews

“Diners can peruse the dishes and see a picture of what the dish looks like along with tasting notes before compiling their order and sending it wirelessly to the kitchen,” Fenech reports. “The iPad menu can also suggest the best wines to go with certain dishes and suggest the best food pairings.”

Fenech reports, “When ordering steak, users can even specify how they’d like the meat cooked and which sauce they’d prefer. It will even ask them if they’d like fries with that.”

Full article here.

“Using the Safari browser, users can pan around a 360-degree view of the entrance to Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York City, watch an embedded trailer for the forthcoming film ‘Tron’ and manipulate scale and perspective, or flip through a gallery of photos,” Oliver reports. “‘Every new Apple mobiledevice and every new Mac — along with the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser — supports web standards including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript,’ the website reads. ‘These web standards are open, reliable, highly secure, and efficient. They allow web designers and developers to create advanced graphics, typography, animations, and transitions. Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.’”

Oliver reports, “Seven different sections of content highlight the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.”

Full article here

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“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone or iPod touch.

Source: Apple Inc.

“Freight company TNT is reported to be struggling to deliver the 20,000 orders across the country, with buyers being told their purchases should arrive before June 7, while those placing new orders are being advised of two-week delays,” Davis reports.

“One million iPads were sold in just 28 days in the US, and that huge demand delayed the worldwide launch,” Davis reports. “In Australia 30,000 were sold on the first day, with 20,000 more expected to be sold over the weekend.”

Full article, with video report, here.

Source: MacDailyNews

“The iPad tablet computer from Apple went on sale in Japan and eight other countries — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland — after selling more than one million units in the United States,” Tabuchi reports. “A flood of orders in Japan for the iPad caused Softbank, the exclusive phone carrier of the iPad in Japan, to stop accepting them after three days. About 1,200 people lined up for the release of the iPad at an Apple Store in central Tokyo on Friday… Similar lines were seen at Apple stores in Europe.”

“The hype around the iPad in Tokyo highlights what has become a sobering reality for a country once considered the technological trend-setter. Japan now frequently looks overseas for innovation,” Tabuchi reports. “Other industries are being shaken up by Apple’s latest export. Once solely focused on creating video games for dedicated consoles like the Wii from Nintendo and more recently for cellphones, the Japanese game developer Konami Digital Entertainment released an iPad version of its popular Metal Gear Solid Touch this year. Another game maker, Capcom, says it will reformat its BioHazard 4 for the iPad.”

Read more in the full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews

“Mike Abramsky with RBC Capital Markets said Friday that he believes between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads will be sold overseas in June, though the number could go even higher. If that forecast is accurate, it would well exceed the 500,000 Macs expected to be sold in June,” Lane reports. “‘Industry contact feedback and previously published surveys point to strong international demand, supported by media reports of long lineups at Apple stores, and strong demand for iPads,’ Abramsky wrote. ‘iPads appear to be stocked out already at some stores and resellers, particularly in countries like Japan, Australia, and U.K. Online availability has been further delayed, to a vague ‘June,’ from June 7 (prior to which was May 28).’”

Lane reports, “If Abramsky’s predictions prove true, it would be a continuation of the trend started in the U.S., where the iPad has had blockbusters sales since it was first introduced in early April. Last week, Abramsky said he believes Apple is selling more than 200,000 iPads per week in the U.S.”

Full article, with country-by-country iPad shipment estimates, here.

Source: MacDailyNews