Could Apple be as big as Microsoft five years from now? Well, if 10Layers' analysis is to be believed, then Apple will soon be as big as Microsoft if they consistently churn out hit products. Apple could even surpass the Bill Gates camp (but by 2010 he'll be out of MS), according to the analysis.

So how is this gonna happen? According to the forecast, both companies have been blessed with healthy revenue growth in last five years. The only difference is that Microsoft has grown linearly for this period while Apple is growing at a exponential rate compared to MS' linear path. Confused?

This only means that Apple has been growing much faster than Microsoft, for the past five years. 10Layers explains that "MicrosoftÂ?s revenues have grown approximately 60% from just under $ 30B in 2002 to over $ 44B in 2006. 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. An impressive 250% revenue growth!"

And since a 250% growth is much bigger than a 60% revenue growth, 10Layers mentioned that if Apple performs this way for the next five years, they would catch MS by 2010 or early 2011. So with that, we could say that there will be a lot financial expectations resting on the sleek shoulders of the iPhone and other future Apple products.