Whatever you think of Apple, there's no denying they've had one of the most incredible turnarounds in corporate history—going from practically dead to the world's most valuable technology company in a little over a decade.

Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, overtook Microsoft, the computer software giant, on Wednesday to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

In intraday trading in the afternoon session, Apple shares rose 1.8 percent, which gave the company a value of $227.1 billion. Shares of Microsoft declined about 1 percent, giving the company a market capitalization of $226.3 billion.

Exxon Mobile is now the only American company worth more than Apple.

In related news, yesterday Microsoft axed two of the founding fathers of their entertainment and devices division, which includes mobile.