AppleInsider Staff
One year after taking the top spot away from Coca-Cola, Apple on Thursday was once again ranked as the world's best brand according to Interbrand's "Best Global Brands" report for 2014.
Interbrand, a brand consulting firm based out of New York, rated Apple's brand valuation at $118.9 billion, a 21 percent rise from 2013, reports The New York Times.
Interbrand cited a number of reasons for Apple's continued rise in brand value, including new products and services like Apple Watch and Apple Pay. The company's latest large-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets were also mentioned for their role in boosting sales in burgeoning Asian markets.
Not only is Apple using devices to broaden its penetration, it's also credibly extending into new spaces. With the unveiling of Apple Watch-reportedly more capable than any other smartwatch on the market, not least of all in terms of advanced health monitoring-Apple's future will rely heavily on its ability to partner effectively with healthcare companies. CarPlay, giving drivers access to their iPhone's best features in the car, has brought the brand into the automotive space. HomeKit, providing seamless integration between accessories, promises to make our homes smarter. Apple Pay certainly has the potential to become the most powerful payment platform around.
Coming in behind Apple with a brand valuation of $107.4 billion was fellow tech giant Google, which unseated former No. 1 Coca-Cola. Google's estimate represents a 15 percent bump from last year and marks the first time two brands in the "Best Global Brands" report were valued at over $100 billion.
Rounding out the top five was Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft with respective valuations of $81.6 billion, $72.2 billion and $61.2 billion. Apple rival Samsung came in at No. 7, jumping one position from the 2013 report.
Technology companies are quickly growing in valuation, with four of the top-ten brands coming from the sector. The result would be higher, but Interbrand considers IBM a business brand. Overall, the technology category is the most valuable, ending up with a collective value of $493.2 billion. As for the fastest climber on Interbrand's list, Facebook took the crown with $14.3 billion, a jump of 86 percent from last year.
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22 Comments
So there's the reason for Icahn's activity. The man who successfully destroys such company, will be legend. This is not about money, it's just sports. And as american company, Apple is highly vulnerable to such manipulations. Let's be honest, Wall Street guys can do whatever they want and get away with anything because, as a matter of fact, they run the country.
Funny to see MS being superseded by a company that sells sugared water. Though it's strange to see MS on the list to begin with. [quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/182729/apple-named-worlds-most-valuable-brand-for-second-straight-year#post_2615577"]As for the fastest climber on Interbrand's list, Facebook took the crown with $14.3 billion, a jump of 86 percent from last year.[/quote] Yes yes, and their revenue is also exploding. Too bad for them that people are leaving FB behind though: https://www.stonetemple.com/how-are-people-using-facebook-vii/
[quote name="PhilBoogie" url="/t/182729/apple-named-worlds-most-valuable-brand-for-second-straight-year#post_2615606"]Funny to see MS being superseded by a company that sells sugared water. Though it's strange to see MS on the list to begin with. Yes yes, and their revenue is also exploding. Too bad for them that people are leaving FB behind though: https://www.stonetemple.com/how-are-people-using-facebook-vii/[/quote] I've noticed a serious decline of active Facebook users over the last couple of months. I'm not the only one, others have brought it up without me mentioning it in conversations. I think they're about done. Glad I did not invest. AAPL may be a rollercoaster but there's a bright future in it.
[quote name="TheWhiteFalcon" url="/t/182729/apple-named-worlds-most-valuable-brand-for-second-straight-year#post_2615610"]^ post[/quote] 1) Buying their stock isn't an issue; it's just not that incentive. It climbs, but doesn't really do much unless you own a gazillion of them. They supposedly have doubled their income through increased advertising, and while that's a good thing for the company, users aren't happy with it. Many don't mind, but many more think it's annoying. 2) Usage decline is worrisome for them, not for society. I left a post on that site I linked, which awaits moderation: [quote] There’s nothing social about FB. It’s used by people so they can hang out their laundry, be it clean or dirty. It’s only purpose is to invoke an emotion. [/quote] 3) I laughed at this: [quote]Notable Individual Responses [LIST=1] [*] “My boyfriend hacked my Facebook and changed my relationship status to single as a means of breaking up with me.” [*] “Everyone freaking out and bombarding me when they saw that me and my boyfriend broke up- but they’ve fixed that since then!” [*] “All of the uneducated opinions and arguments that get created.” [*] “Account got hijacked and erroneous information was posted.” [*] “A friend of a friend (some one I have never personally met) copied my statuses and posted them as her own for almost a year.” [*] “Got bullied into a fight with a friend of my husband’s family and none of his family backed me up. Subsequently got into a fight with my sister in law over the bullying. Unfriended my husband ‘s family. Feud continues, 5 years later.” [*] “I don’t see all of my friends posts. Facebook seems to select a few amongst many, and only show those 5-6 people constantly. I don’t feel I have any control over who is on my newsfeed, my husband isn’t even on my newsfeed. That’s a sad state of affairs. Also, they’ve changed the photo galleries so much that they’re really awful to use. I had a terrible time reordering pictures around, uploading video is tedious, editing anything is like looking for a needle in a haystack.” [*] “Jealousy when other girls would post things on my high school/college boyfriend’s wall.” [*] “My mom saw me smoking a cigarette in a picture. (I WAS friends with her on Facebook back in the day, when she was on it.)” [*] “Primary source of communication, don’t know how to interact without it sometimes.” [*] [/LIST] [/quote] 4) Keep enjoying the AAPL roller coaster.
Not sure I see why an award as such is necessary for the obvious ... but nice anyway way