Apple rated the most valuable brand: Forbes

31 Jul 2010

Apple's glitches and antenna issues with iPhone 4 notwithstanding, the $57.4-billion brand that raced past Microsoft in May as the largest technology company, has topped the 'The World's Most Valuable Brands' list compiled by Forbes (See: Apple overtakes Microsoft as largest tech company).

"This is a company that has faced setbacks before and bounced back to become the world's most valuable brand, worth $57.4 billion," Forbes noted.

Brand Microsoft comes in second with $56.6 billion, followed by Coca Cola ($55.4 billion), IBM ($43 billion) and Google ($39.7 billion) which bagged the third, fourth and fifth spots on the list.

The top 10 includes fast food giant McDonald's, General Electric, Marlboro, Intel and Nokia.

The list is dominated by tech brands with a 30-per cent share in the top 50, including four of the top five positions. Besides tech, financial service brands and food and beverage brands each captured six spots.

Forbes looked at more than 100 brands with leadership positions in their respective industries. The companies were evaluated by Forbes along with Jeffrey Parkhurst, managing director of business strategy at Mindshare, a WPP-owned media agency.