iPhone Business Alone Worth More Than All But 10 Firms Tip Number-Crunchers

The number manglers over at Trefis have crunched the stats and decided that Apple's iPhone – were it to be spun off as a separate business – would be worth more than all but ten companies on the planet. Basing their figures on Apple's current $391 billion worth and the fact that the iPhone represents 53.5-percent of that, they estimate the standalone value at $209 billion – only just behind AT&T and IBM.

In fact, they could only find ten firms worth more, including Microsoft ($262bn), Exxon Mobil ($349bn) and mining company BHP ($236bn).

Now, this is only meant to be a relatively playful alternative look at the stats, and nobody is saying that if Apple actually did split off the iPhone it would work as a standalone business. Part of the value is, of course, the iTunes/iOS/Mac ecosystem, without which the iPhone is just hardware. Still, it's an interesting perspective and shows just how important to Apple's overall worth the smartphone is.

[via Fortune]