Apple becomes world's most valuable company

Technology finally overtakes oil

Apple has become the world's most valuable company, overtaking oil company Exxon during trading in yesterday's markets.

Apple's value climbed to $341.5bn (£210bn), fractionally above Exxon's $341.4bn.

Although Exxon's annual revenue is significantly higher than Apple's, it is valued slightly lower by the markets due to its lower profit margins and the volatility of oil prices.

In its third-quarter results for this year, Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57bn, with profits of $7.31bn.

Its recent success can be largely ascribed to the impressive sales of its iPhone and iPad (pictured, with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs) devices. It sold 20.34 million iPhones in the last quarter, representing a 142 per cent year-on-year growth.

At the same time it sold 9.25 million iPads, a 183 per cent growth over the same period last year.