Google overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable brand

Breaking Apple's five-year record, Google has taken the top spot as the most valuable brand in the world. In the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report, Apple comes in second, followed by Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, Samsung, Verizon, Walmart, Facebook, and ICBC.

Brand Finance's analysts feel that Apple has "overexploited the goodwill of its customers" and has "repeatedly disillusioned its advocates with tweaks when material changes were expected".

The report says that "the snaking queues of early adopters (for Apple devices) have shrunk almost to the point of invisibility," and that "Apple's loss has been Google's gain."

Google has been given a brand value of $109.47 billion (Rs7,36,016 crore), compared to Apple's $107.141 billion (Rs7,20,294 crore)

"Put simply, Apple has over-exploited the goodwill of its customers; it has failed to generate significant revenues from newer products such as the Apple Watch and cannot demonstrate that genuinely innovative technologies desired by consumers are in the pipeline. Its brand has lost its lustre and must now compete on an increasingly level playing field not just with traditional rival Samsung, but a slew of Chinese brands such as Huawei and OnePlus in the smartphone market, Apple's key source of profitability," the report reads.

Google held the world's most valuable brand title in 2011, and has now regained it. Most of the credit goes to its Search business, which largely remains unchallenged, and is the mainstay of its advertising income.

The report states that the "ad revenues were up 20 per cent in 2016, despite a fall in cost per click, as ad budgets are increasingly directed online. Desktop advertising remains far more lucrative than mobile, despite its prematurely diagnosed decline."

Furthermore, 2016 marks Google's foray into the mainstream smartphone market - with the launch of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, which according to the report have seen great sales figures.

After Apple, Amazon took the third spot with 53 per cent brand value growth. The analysts feel that the "firm is growing strongly as it continues to both reshape the retail market and to capture an ever larger share of it". In its latest earnings report, Amazon has stated it will create 100,000 jobs in the US over the next 18 months. With this growth confidence, the analysts feel that Amazon could well be in the top spot next year.

Social networking giant Facebook secured the 9th position with an 82 per cent brand value growth.