Well, sorta. According to figures pointed out by VentureBeat, if you asked both companies to empty their metaphorical pockets right now, you'd find that Apple has more cash on hand than Microsoft.

The house that Jobs built and then built again has some $24.5bn on hand, while Microsoft reported having just $20.7bn after its various acquisitions and stock buyback efforts.

Okay, so it comes with a few asterisks and doesn't by any means reflect that Apple is worth more than the lumbering Redmond giant, but it's a fairly significant achievement, particularly for the company that in its darkest day had just enough cash on hand to keep its doors open for a month.

It could also mean a new round of bargain shopping. Industry pundits, along with Steve Jobs himself, have indicated that the big cash reserve could be used by the company to snap up a promising, yet down on its luck company as the market continues to dive and the hard times roll on.

25 Oct 2008