"Consumer technology companies reporting financial results this week are looking like rowboats bobbing in the wake of Apple Inc.'s supertanker," Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.

"Close to oblivion in 1997, Apple is now the world's second-most valuable company, after Exxon Mobil Corp. On April 20, it reported net income of $5.99 billion for the January-to-March period, nearly double that of a year ago," Svensson reports. "It shipped a record 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter. Its iPad tablet computers are so popular, the company couldn't make enough."

Apple's ascendancy has produced many losers and a few winners, as underscored over the past two weeks:

• Microsoft Corp.: loser.
• Nokia Corp.: loser.
• Research In Motion Ltd.: loser.
• HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.: winners, indirectly. [However, all three companies are] embroiled in patent litigation [cases] with Apple.
• Verizon Wireless: winner.
• AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp: mixed.