As expected, it did not take long for Apple to overtake IBM and become the most valuable computer maker in the world. Now the fourth largest company in the technology sector, there seems to be nowhere to go but up for Apple.

After the better than expected earnings for the quarter that ended on the 30th of September and an unusually high guidance for the current quarter, Apple's shares surged nearly 7 percent, bringing the company's total market value $162 billion. Apple has passed both IBM, worth $155 billion and Intel, worth $156 billion; as well as Nokia, the most valuable cellphone maker, which is worth $150 billion. Not bad for a company that was written of dead a decade ago.

Now Apple faces Cisco ($189 billion), Google ($208 billion) and Microsoft ($290 billion) on its climb to become the biggest company in technology. Despite the rivalry that exists between many companies in the technology industry, Apple has close relations with Google and has worked with Cisco recently, the two companies agreeing to share the iPhone name.
Apple seems poised to keep growing and the momentum they have has become hard to ignore. With nearly all their products setting the standard for their markets, Apple seems unstoppable, but the company isn't likely to stop any time soon and is constantly coming out with something new.

While market value is one way to judge the worth of a company, to truly get a sense for just how big Apple is, one only has to stop and imagine what the world would be without the company's products over the past ten years. No iMacs, no OS X, no iTunes, no iPod and no iPhone. One can only imagine what new products will get added to this list in the ten years to come and there can be little doubt that Apple still has plenty of room left to grow.