Apple keeps on growing! Steve Jobs' empire set to become world's most valuable company

Apple is set to become the world’s most valuable company this year, financial analysts said yesterday.

It is predicted to leapfrog the current number one, oil giant Exxon Mobil, capping a remarkable rise for the gadget firm, which is thriving on sales of Mac computers, iPhones, iPods and now iPads.

Shares in Apple are predicted to rise a staggering 32 per cent over the next 12 months, driving the company’s market value up to £269.5billion.

Rising shares: Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the launch of the iPad last year. 14.8m of the devices have since been sold, pushing the company's value up to £269.5billion

That is tipped to be sufficient to overhaul Exxon, currently valued at £263billion, even taking into account that its value is also set to increase, with rising oil prices likely to drive up its profits.

The rest of the top ten is dominated by mining and energy heavyweights, along with Apple’s long-time rival Microsoft, now trailing behind a firm it used to beat easily.

Apple reported its best ever quarterly results last month, continuing its relentless rise up the list of the world’s biggest companies.

Where the magic happens: Apple, which is thriving on sales of Mac computers, iPhones, iPods and now iPads, is based in Cupertino, California

In the last three months of 2010 alone, it sold 3.89million Macintosh computers, 14.1million iPhones, 9.05million iPod music players and 4.19million iPad tablet computers.

The better-than-expected figures for iPhones – which benefited from an expansion of their U.S. network – and iPads caused many analysts to upgrade their 12-month
predictions for Apple’s share performance.

Although Apple suffered a momentary setback when shares plunged early last month after CEO Steve Jobs said he was taking a medical leave of absence, experts remain bullish over its prospects, saying it has only just begun to exploit the international market.

Cool and quirky image: Apple's iPod preceded the colourful iPod Minis and Nanos, which proved a hit with millions of customers

‘Analysts are as giddy as you can be, but Apple just keeps surpassing those numbers,’ said Pete Najarian, co-founder of stock market website TradeMonster.com.

Although it has long cultivated a unique reputation with a loyal customer base devoted to the ‘cool’, quirky brand and aesthetically pleasing design, it is only in recent years that Apple has transformed into a sales juggernaut.

Founded in California in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it grew in the shadow of Microsoft and was given up for dead a decade ago but surpassed the PC giant last May to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

Its rise is likely to be boosted with a thinner, lighter and souped-up version of its iPad tablet computer that is reportedly already in production.

Some experts expect the company to sell as many as 35million iPads this year, more than doubling last year’s 14.8million sales.

However, Apple’s latest success comes just months after it was accused of exploiting workers, with a spate of suicides among workers at manufacturing plants in China.

Fourteen workers at the Foxconn Technology Group factories, which make iPhones and iPads for Apple, killed themselves last year amid complaints of ill-treatment, causing Apple to launch an investigation.,,

A new Thai airline is hiring transsexuals as flight attendants, aiming at a unique identity to set itself apart from competitors as it sets out for the skies.

Known as 'katoeys' or 'ladyboys,' transgenders and transsexuals have greater visibility in Thailand than in many other nations, holding mainstream jobs in a variety of fields.

They are especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant.

In demand: Four transsexual flight attendants were chosen by new airline PC Air after hundreds applied for the positions

PC Air, a charter airline set to start operations on Asian routes in April, originally planned only to hire male and female flight attendants.

But it changed its mind after receiving more than 100 job applications from transvestites and transsexuals.

Four were chosen, along with 19 female and 7 male flight attendants.

While the airline strives for equality, PC Air president Peter Chan, who chooses the transsexual cabin crew himself, said he needed to spend longer with interviews for such applicants.

'For male flight attendants, if I don't want to hire them, it's because of their attitude or their characters, like the way they walk and smile.

'When I knew that I got this job, I burst into tears because I'm very happy,' said 24-year-old Chayathisa Nakmai.

Instruction: PC Air flight attendants watch during a make-up training session in Bangkok

Training: Officials from PC Air said it had to be spend all day interview transsexual applications to make sure they had 'feminine character'

'I had sent many applications to different airlines.'

The airline said that the qualifications for the ladyboy flight attendants were the same as for female flight attendants, with the additional provisos that they be like women in how they walk and talk, and have a feminine voice and the right attitude.

Though there is very little discrimination against ladyboys in Thailand, they are not officially recognised as women and their identification cards will always say 'male'.

'For female flight attendants, if they have no patience and their character does not qualify, we won't hire them,' he added.

'For transsexuals, we can't just spend five or 10 minutes with them, we have to spend the whole day with them to make sure they have feminine characters.'

Taking off: The new airline will initially fly to South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and China

The airline said it may hire more flight attendants from the 'third gender' in the future since the Department of Civil Aviation has no objections.

Though excited by the opportunity, the transsexual flight attendants said they were aware they needed to prove themselves.

'People will keep their eyes on us... There will be more pressure,' said Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 23, who was crowned as Thailand's most beautiful transvestite in 2007.

'We have to prepare ourselves more than the women.'..

The airline is initially set to fly to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

Supersize Donna Simpson has found a bizarre way to turn her passion for food into money. Hundreds of men pay to watch online as 45st Donna scoffs vast amounts of burgers, pizza, crisps and cakes in an attempt to hit her target weight of 1,000lbs, or 72st.
Since setting up her website last November, Donna, who squeezes into size 40 clothes, has already attracted 260 subscribers and their fees net her an impressive £2,000 a month – which she spends on food.

Donna, who’s 39 and 5ft 4, hopes to become one of the world’s heaviest women by consuming up to 12,000 calories a day. To reach her target, ex-carer Donna, who already suffers from diabetes and high-blood pressure, needs to gain another 27st and predicts it will take her until 2012 at her current weight gain of 7st a year.

“I don’t know why my target is 1,000lbs – it’s just the weight I believe I was born to be,” she says. Donna has been obese since childhood. By nine, she weighed 13st – she was bullied at school and dubbed “Fatty four-eyes.”

"He liked me supersized"

At the age of 24 Donna married Robert Simpson, a chef who encouraged her eating by bringing home leftovers from work to feed her. “He’d come home with steak and desserts,” she recalls. “He liked me supersized.”

Robert – who was already a dad to son Sean, now 18 – and Donna had a child together, Devin, now 12, but divorced shortly after. By then Donna weighed 43st. For the first time ever she went on a diet, urged on by her father who was concerned for her health, and lost 5st in six months.

But she soon lapsed when she met fat-lover Philippe Gouamba, 47, in an online chat room for oversized women in 2006. “When I ate enough for five people on our first date, it really impressed him,” says Donna, from New Jersey, USA. Philippe, who counts watching his girlfriend eat as one of his favourite hobbies, says: “I’ve always been attracted to big women, but Donna is my fantasy. The more she weighs, the sexier she is.”

Extreme health risks

The couple, who plan to marry next year, say that Donna’s size makes their sex life even better. “Philippe goes on top so he can play with my fat belly,” says Donna. Regular gym-goer Philippe, who is 13st and 6ft 4, also gets aroused by helping Donna, who is a bra size 56E, wash her rolls of fat in the shower.

Although doctors had said her 38st frame would make it almost impossible to conceive, Donna fell pregnant within three months of dating Phillipe. But she developed diabetes and high-blood pressure during pregnancy and needed a team of 19 doctors and nurses to get through the high-risk Caesarean birth.

When baby Jacqueline was born weighing 8lbs 14oz in February 2007, Donna became the world’s fattest woman to give birth – the previous largest had weighed 34st. But she admits she struggles to care for her daughter, as she can barely walk 20ft without needing to sit down. “It’s difficult keeping up with Jacqueline, but we’re very closely bonded,” says Donna. “Fortunately, anything I can’t do with her, her dad can, so I don’t feel guilty.”

It was six months after giving birth that Donna resolved to become one of the world’s heaviest women by weighing 1,000lbs. “I decided that if I was healthy enough to have a baby, then my body could cope with an extra 34st,” says Donna. “It will be a great achievement – not many other people have reached that weight.”

And despite initial worries for Donna’s health, Philippe supports his fiancée. He says: “Gaining weight makes
Donna happy and seeing her happy makes me happy.”

"My food costs £400 a week"

But Donna’s ambition proved expensive, so she decided to set up a website after discovering that there were men willing to pay to watch large women eat. “My food costs £400 a week,” says Donna. “In a typical day I’ll eat four burgers and fries, a loaf of bread with peanut butter and jam, four servings of meatloaf and mashed potato, a large pizza, a chocolate cake with ice cream and cream, 12 cupcakes, two cheesecakes and fizzy drinks. And I don’t want Philippe to foot the bill just because I’m too big to go out and work.”

Donna charges £8 a month for access to photos of her body and videos of her feasting and measuring her ever-expanding waistline. She has 260 “fat admirers” from as far away as Japan and Australia and their ages range from 20 to 68. She spends between six and 10 hours a day responding to emails or doing live chats online. And although she admits to getting some sexual requests, these are firmly ignored.

Human resources executive Philippe is supportive of Donna’s venture. He says: “I don’t mind other men looking at her because I’m the only one who touches her.”

Since launching her site, Donna has gained 7st. Incredibly, she doesn’t care that reaching 72st will probably confine her to a wheelchair and could kill her, leaving her daughter – who she feeds a healthy diet – motherless.
“I’m well enough to cope with my target weight,” she says defiantly.