Amid all of the bad news on Wall Street, Apple continues to be the Rocky Balboa to the economy's Apollo Creed.

The Associate Press reported at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Apple knocked down Exxon Mobil to be the most valuable company in the U.S.

Apple Inc.'s stock gained 3.4 percent to $365.10 Tuesday afternoon, bringing the iPhone and iPad maker's market capitalization to about $338 billion. Exxon Mobil Corp. shares, meanwhile, were trading at $69.23, down 1.4 percent. That gives the oil company a market cap of $337 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, both companies were worth $341 billion at one point in the day. As of this writing, the market is still open and Apple is at $336 billion, while Exxon Mobil is at $331 billion. With less than an hour left in the trading day, the competition for the top spot is heating up.

As Bloomberg pointed out, "[Apple] was on the brink of bankruptcy before Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs returned as chief executive officer in 1997, [then] passed Exxon Mobil to become the most valuable business in the world."

We have no doubt that Apple will emerge as the champion of this battle. OK, we admit it's a snap judgment, but it seems like the sky is the limit for Apple. Popular products like the iPad and iPhone have no lack of demand. Meanwhile, big oil is dependent on so many unstable variables. And isn't it obvious that we adore our gadgets more than our vehicles?

Apple has been on the forefront of mobile technology since the release of the original iPhone in June of 2007. Since then, Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, has been a hit with consumers and is widely considered to be a game changer for hand-held devices.

Is that the sound of champagne popping at the company's Cupertino, Calif. headquarters? Perhaps we can get the staff liquored up enough to give us a hard release date on the iPhone 5.

UPDATE: Aww, looks like Exxon Mobil came out on top at the close of market with 348.32 billion, while Apple finished at 346.74 billion. There's always tomorrow, Apple!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20090196-501465.html

So tommrow or in a few days time APPLE will be the most valuable company with the recent results and the impeding launch of iPhone 5

And all we got from that are crappy PC's and overpriced phones... bleh.
Hooray for oil!

i wouldn't say overpriced phones as google is really letting android get out of control

Mac's i get though we are slowly seeing that most consumers are submissive and don't use most of the freedom of open platforms.

as for oil,i say the more it falls the better,electric cars ftw.atleast we stop war for sometime in this world

Oil is involved in far more things than cars (agree on the electric move, but oil isn't going anywhere)... and Apple could vanish tomorrow and simply get replaced by the far superior products out now. It'd be good riddance...

Apple are WAAAAAAAY Overated. Their products are overpriced ( 1000 Euro for Mac book pro versus an 500-600 for equavilent windows Laptop). A sim free Iphone 4 is ~579 Euro for top of the range one. For an equavilent say Samsung galaxy S II it's about ~379 Euro. I'm glad i'm in the know.

yeah in the long run APPLE would vanish as its more of a tech service company than a tech utility company.its success is very much dependent on steve jobs.

APPLE gives you a smooth OS also

we might not like it but most consumers who are busy in life and want quick smooth access do like APPLE

Samsung galazy packs hardware but is a very ugly phone with the out of control android OS.

Doesn't General Electric have like a trillion dollars worth of assests, Assests + Shares = value. I am sure Mobile has alot of assests in oil related plants and drilling sites to add to there value.

Assets can be tangible and intangible.

Tangible is google's brand name,with the name the company would cost no more than BING,YAHOO

intangible as in buildings,drilling sets. but even this can eroded like if electric cars pick up,value of drilling sites wouldn't matter but that would be a slow chnage so less liability

also all the assests have to be maintained like building,brand name,work that goes on which causes expenses

in all tangible assests are more of liability than intangible

Shares are owned by consumers not the company itself

@Snakenobi I think people ( Well the uniformed ones) treat Apple products as an accessory and a fashion item. Of course there are people who make an informed decision and choose Apple , and that's fine with me. But the people who buying just because it's the in thing make me lol. Some day Apple will just not be "cool" anymore, and it's these people who will move onto the next in thing.