Apple is probably worth more than your state (or country)
Today's big news on the Apple front is that the company topped a market capitalization of US$700 billion. That's a whole lot of cheddar -- or clams, bucks, greenbacks, simoleons, whatever you feel like calling them -- but when numbers get that big it's hard to understand what it means. To help put it into perspective, here's a list of things less valuable than the entirety of Apple's stock.
The GSP (gross state product) of every U.S. state with the exception of California, Texas, New York, and Florida.
The GDP of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Austria, and Belgium. In fact, if Apple were a country it would rank 20th out of 196 countries.
The market cap of Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, LG, and HP, combined.
4 International Space Stations
280 Mars Science Laboratory rovers
1,270 U.S. Air Force long-range stealth bombers
1,060 Boeing 747-400 jet airliners
2,800 Hope Diamonds
2.3 billion pairs of Beats Studio headphones