Historically unprecedented. In his day Alexander was great, but he wasn't this great. Napoleon dominated Europe, but not with the consent of the people.
Apple is the most impressive commercial enterprise ever. Worldwide, people can't get enough of Apple products.
Apple isn't the only noticeable company soaring through our times like a rocket ship through a vacuum. The bad boys of Google are watching everything we do. They are on the Internet, YouTube, and in our wallets at the checkout counter. Taking on the Chinese government one day, and the EU the next, Google just goes on and on buying whatever it wants and running over most everything in its path.
From a psychological standpoint, the two giants of technology are a study in opposites. Apple is the "good" boy, earnestly saving its profits. It now has a cash hoard of about $100,000,000,000. It doesn't need the money and hasn't decided what to spend it on. It methodically plans its next move and takes it one innovation at a time. Next up is Ipad 4.
In contrast, Google is the "bad" boy, reflecting the low need for status of its CEO, Larry Page. Google doesn't seem to care what anybody thinks. They just plow onward, wildly spending on everything that catches their fancy. Uncomfortable with their spying on the sites you visit on Internet? They couldn't care because they decided to spy even more intrusively. They spend, spend, and spend. They offered way too much to buy Groupon but when turned down started their own company. They are buying Motorola even though this is a strategy that doesn't seem to be thought through. After former politician Daniel Pink attributed Google's creativity to its use of intrinsic motivation, Page awarded across the board, 10%, noncontingent pay raises just because he could. And, of course, Google is more creative than ever.
This is the ultimate battle of spender (Google) versus saver (Apple). Google projects the values of low need for savings, low need for status, and high need for power. Apple projects the values of high need for savings and high need for status. In the 1960s it was the USA versus Russia, and the USA eventually won. Now it is Google versus Apple. It is the show of our times, like it or not.