GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple is making headlines this week for bypassing Exxon, if briefly, as the largest publicly listed US company, in the chaos of stock markets this week. In May 2010 it bypassed Microsoft as the largest tech company.

Big doesn’t necessarily mean everyone loves it, however, and in particular Apple is facing fights with the Financial Times, Wal-mart and Amazon, among others who are refusing to put their new iPad apps through the Apple iTunes system because of Apple’s insistence on taking a 30 percent bite.

The Atlantic calls it the beginning of the end of the Apple App Store, noting that “Amazon and Walmart have challenged Apple to a duel with the release of the Kindle Cloud Reader and Walmart’s Vudu streaming site.”

Links to other sites: the Globe & Mail, Reuters

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