Thanks, I was surprised people didn't take getting banned a serious thing 0_o But I digress, I think Apple is a great company, in fact I'm using a MacBook Pro right now! ^_^ And both Steve and Stephen were great people! They did a great things for the gadget industry.

iGreece

Wow, way to ignore EVERYTHING ELSE I SAID.

Yes, he removed Apple's cancer and helped cure the company by creating an environment where people at Apple could do the things they would end up doing years down the road. As for Jon Ive, don't forget, Jony was working at Apple a few years before Steve came back. However, he wasn't in the position to do anything great because the people who Steve would later fire wouldn't let him. He was actually considering leaving Apple until Steve vame back, discovered him and motivated him to stay. The two also worked closely together on most projects. there were a lot of disagreements on the smallest of details. Sometimes Steve would win the argument and sometimes Jony would win the argument. So to say that Jon Ive is THE reason for Apple's success is false. He was just one part of the reason. It's Steve's overall influence and workings within the company that ultimately led it to where it is today.

As for Steve taking credit for a lot of things that other also deserved credit for, that unfortunately happens, but in most situations, Steve never said "I'm the reason for this". It's how the media portrayed it. The only thing is Steve did nothing to dispute it. It was also a problem amongst jon Ive and other Apple employees in high positions to the point where there was a wikipedia war. So no, it wasn't just Steve.

Also, yes, Steve was at Apple when they were originally in trouble. However, it wasn't entirely his fault since the computer electronics industry as a whole was suffering at the time. John Scully and his people needed a scapegoat so they pointed to Steve. Steve meanwhile pointed the finger at Scully.

Steve Jobs never took credit away from anyone; in his letters to stockholders he would always say how great a team that Apple had, and that it was the best in the world. The only complaint I think can be had against him was his personal philanthropic record. Apple also made more millionaires than any other company ever has.

Just to re-iterate from earlier, saying Apple is worth more than Greece is silly- GDP and Market Cap are completely unrelated - one is a revenue expenditure, the other is a cost. Greece's GDP is simply how much the populace spent in a 1 year period. You can't buy Greece for 400 billion, you can't even buy all the residential homes in Athens for 400 billion - you can buy Apple for that price though (if everyone sold their stock) - if everyone in Greece sold their assets and the state sold its resources and national treasures (Ancient ruins, park lands, etc...) if that occurred, at least several trillion would be required - far more than what is required to buy any company.

@first part I remember him saying that several times when he has been interviewed. Why do people think he is so ignorant? 

It's worth more than the US as well.

Toyota still hasn't recovered from the recession while Apple has experienced huge growth.  Toyota sees more revenue, but Apple's Net Income is more than four times higher than Toyota's.  If anything Apple is undervalued in comparison to Toyota (and compared to many other growth companies, it is undervalued).  Also, considering Apple will likely have around $90 billion in cash/investments when they report for the last quarter and no long term debt, I don't see how you can say it should be valued at under $100 billion.

Your argument would be better aimed at a company like Amazon who ( a few months ago) briefly had a market cap above Toyota's.  The fact of the matter though is that the stock price is what people in the real world are willing to pay for a company.  That price can still be driven by speculation, but that is not something unique to the stock market.  You might think the prices people paid for a Ken Griffey Jr. card, a Beanie Baby, or a home in southern California were stupid too, but those were all driven by speculation independent of the stock market.  Most investments are based on speculation.  If you expect an investment to appreciate, that is speculation.  Same if you sell one that you expect to depreciate.

Do you think private companies are never valued and bought based on their future growth?

Comparing a GDP number to a company market capitalization is not exactly comparing apples with apples. Eg, the GDP of Australia is about 1.1 trillion but that does not mean the asset base less liabilities of Australia is 1.1T. It's a heck of a lot more. For example there is more than $1 Trillion in the Superannuation funds of Australia. I do not know this stat for Greece. Market Capitalization is an indicator of how much it 'may' cost to buy a company. It's worth. To buy Greece and all it's assets would be a lot more than 400b :)

measuring a companies market capitalisation and value on the share market can not be compared to a countries GDP and total net value.

That's the other misconception people had about Steve. They thought he was a greedy bastard who didn't care about the rest of the world. He actually did charity work similar to Bill Gates, but he was never open about it. He was a very private man and chose to keep those things private, just like a lot of other aspects of his life. Apple itself has also developed this secretive culture, which I personally don't have a problem with, but it does become bothersome for some investors.