Call it ambitious math, but the idea is that if Apple and Microsoft stayed on exactly the same revenue-growth arcs that they're currently on, Apple would overtake Microsoft in the next five years. Some comments have pointed out that Apple is unlikely to sustain the growth that it has experienced from the iPod, as it would require a revolutionary product of that same scale...iPhone is certainly nice, and could propel the $21B Apple into a $30B or $40B Apple in the next few years, but it doesn't quite open up an entirely new market segment the way the iPod did.
Another thing that I'd add is that Microsoft remains wildly profitable because their software offerings and considerably lower margins than Apple has on its hardware. If Apple made exponentially more money off of services (music, movies, TV shows, .Mac) and software, then it might be able to give Microsoft a run in that arena as well.
I'm concerned that Apple isn't in the Internet services game the way Microsoft and Google and Yahoo! are...the truth is that .Mac was launched years ago with that intention, but has lost the game to the ad-driven services offered by Google, et al.
What Apple needs to do on that front is shore up its .Mac offerings to make them exceedingly compelling to Mac users -- faster, more reliable, perhaps secure and your-own-domain driven services with some differentiators. For instance, what if Apple offered streaming audio to its .Mac subscribers, or uber-easy secure e-mail or 1-click shopping or a Blogger-type tool that focuses on podcasting, complete with a special licensing arrangement for podcasting songs or videos out of the iTunes store...?
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