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