By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 09:35 AM EST (06:35 AM PST)

Apple Inc. has a decent shot of outgrowing Microsoft Corp. within the next five years if it can keep churning out hit wonders, an extrapolation of revenue data from the two industry heavyweights has revealed.

An analysis at 10Layers points out that while both Microsoft and Apple have seen healthy revenue growth in the last 5 years, Apple is growing at a near exponential rate compared to Microsoft's linear path.

"Microsoft’s revenues have grown approximately 60 percent from just under $30B in 2002 to over $44B in 2006," the report states. "However, while Microsoft has grown linearly for this period, Apple has accelerated with revenues of just under $6B in 2002 growing to just under $21B in 2006."

For Apple, that represents an impressive 250 percent revenue growth.

In an attempt to predict the future growth rates of both firms, 10Layers compiled an extrapolation of Microsoft’s linear and Apple's almost exponential revenue growth from the past twelve months.

The pure extrapolation shows that Apple could catch up with Microsoft as early as 2010 or 2011, given the current growth rates.



"Of course, an extrapolation is just an attempt at predicting the future based on the past," the report states. "It is clear however, that it is likely that Apple will give Microsoft a run for their money."