Apple, easily the most influential company in consumer technology today, spent relatively little on lobbying efforts in Washington — only US$340,000 — this year, reports “All Things D” (http://macte.ch/6UA2K).

A list of lobbying funds from other companies include Verizon ($3.83 million); AT&T ($3.47 million); HP ($1.63 million); Microsoft ($1.63 million); Oracle ($1.6 million); Google ($1.2 million); IBM ($1 million): Yahoo ($540,000); Facebook ($120,000).

“As you can see, the CRP shows that, among computer and Internet companies, Microsoft was the leading lobbying spender for the first nine months of the year,” notes “All Things D.” “The wireless industry’s trade association, the CTIA, led the pack in the telephone equipment and services category, spending more than $6 million.