“Apple has set the bar incredibly high over the past decade. The expectations have some fans grumbling about the lack of transformational products during recent launches. The company has largely upgraded existing product lines instead of releasing anything as revolutionary as its last huge category changer in 2010, the iPad,” Kurt Badenhausen reports for Forbes. “Speculation swirls about whether the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has peaked, with well-funded competitors like Samsung and Google also challenging Apple. Wall Street seems to think so — Apple’s stock plummeted 45% from its September 2012 high before partially recovering in the past six months.”
“But Forbes’ study of the top brands illustrates that the Apple name is as strong as ever,” Badenhausen reports. “Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time at $104.3 billion, up 20% over last year. It is worth nearly twice as much as any other brand on the planet by our count.”
The Top 15 ($ in billions):
1. Apple, $104.3
2. Microsoft, $56.7
3. Coca-Cola, $54.9
4. IBM, $50.7
5. Google, $47.3
6. McDonald’s, $39.4
7. General Electric, $34.2
8. Intel, $30.9
9. Samsung, $29.5
10. Louis Vuitton, $28.4
11. BMW, $27.9
12. Cisco, $27.0
13. Oracle, $26.9
14. Toyota, $25.6
15. AT&T, $24.2
Read more in the full article, and see the full list, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Samsung BS. In top ten. Congrats Apple once again!
Samsung on the list: Another case of ‘you can’t stop stupid’. Or maybe it’s a sub-culture that thinks there’s something meaningful or rebel about not using Apple. Keeping track of why people decide one thing is ‘true’ over another often boggles my mind. Sometimes I learn from other people’s points of view. Sometimes I just want to hurl and get away from them ASAP.
too cool….!
Only twice? Must have been weighed down by the pile of nuclear waste that is iOS 7.
Ive is like a virgin when it comes to designing software.
Rather stupid choice of fake nicks today, pet generic anonymous coward Samsung-paid troll. At least that’s all I can assume you are from the drivel you wrote.
How the hell is Scamsum ranked higher than BMW?
They move a ton more product is the only reason I could think of.
I just wish the stock price would reflect this. Down again today. Frustratingly stupid.
Fairly or not, AAPL is dead money right now. I keep thinking that China Mobile and something brand new (iWatch? iTV?) will stabilize and revalue the equity, but certainly not yet. In Wall Street’s eyes, massive iPhone/iPad/Mac sales mean absolutely nothing if mind-blowing, unprecedented GROWTH therein is not occurring. Profitability? Who cares? Amazon won’t be profitable for years. Neither will Twitter. Doesn’t matter to the pros, though, does it?
See! Apple reach these heights without having to resort to buying Blackberry or the BB brand.
Hmmm I checked the top 100 list and while I see Burberry on the list, I don’t see Blackberry. I guess they must be a mid tiered brand.
I think it’s pretty clear to anyone except the most moronic of jouranalists (oh oh oh, can you guess who I’m looking at, it’s not Android) or some whore street analysts that Apple believes in high class products at both ends, in sales and purchases.
Valuable? Ha! To who? Certainly not to Wall Street. I often wonder how Apple seems to always acquire these meaningless titles of questionable value. It’s like handing someone a well-polished penny as a first-place trophy. Ridiculous.
With China up and coming, why don’t we see any of their brands? I mean China Mobil has 700 million users, what’s it worth?
I get the feeling that the list is incomplete.