Apple's ad budget for 2009 fiscal year surpassed $500 million, as noted in company's 10-K form filing with SEC. That's up from $486 million in 2008 and $467 million in 2007. But the Mac maker's advertising spending is still modest compared to $1.4 billion spent by Microsoft or $811 million dished out by Dell. In fact, as a percentage of revenue, Apple has actually been decreasing its ad spending every year for past eight, from nearly 5% in 2001 to 1.37% (1.17% if you use non-GAAP revenue). That's less than half the 3.6% of revenue Research in Motion (RIMM) spends advertising BlackBerries.