Jostling for position
A quick look at the HEXUS.sharewatch table reveals that Microsoft is still far and away the biggest technology company by market capitalisation. However, second place is hotly contested between Apple and Google, with IBM a clear fourth and even giants like HP, Intel, Oracle and Cisco trailing behind.
Traditionally Microsoft and Apple have been at each other's throats, not just as operating system competitors, but as champions of very contrasting approaches to computing. While the 1997 investment of $150 million by Microsoft in the then-struggling Apple gives things like the barbed Get a Mac ad campaigns an air of pantomime, the rivalry remains genuine.
The only real threat to the OS duopoly has been Linux, which has been viewed by most as a niche, enthusiast thing. But the growth of the mobile Internet, and the lack of a full version of Windows for the ARM instruction set - the default for mobile phones - has created a surge of interest in Linux, with Google and its Android smartphone operating system at the forefront.
The mobile Internet is generally accepted as the key battleground for the technology industry for the foreseeable future, so the jostling for position is intense. Apple has scored an early success with the iPhone, which remains the standard by which smartphones are judged, but Google has fought back strongly, not just through Android, but through a plethora of software, services and even hardware to claim a large slice of the mobile pie.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is lagging behind in the mobile space. It seems to have devoted its time to getting Windows right and with trying to take some share of the huge search market away from Google. Its Windows Mobile OS is in danger of getting completely over-run by Android, as previously loyal handset partners defect, so it's fair to say that Apple and Microsoft have a common enemy in Google in the mobile space.