“To create the top 20 for our 25th annual rankings, Fortune and its survey partners at Hay Group asked 3,322 executives, directors, and securities analysts to select the 10 companies they admire most. Having fresh ideas and being green are among the qualities that distinguish this year’s winners,” Fortune magazine reports.
Fortune’s Top 20 Most Admired Companies, Innovation
1. Apple: For the second straight year, Apple is the most admired company for innovation.
2. Google
3. FedEx
4. Genentech
5. Nike
6. Whole Foods Market
7. Procter & Gamble
8. Network Appliance
9. Herman Miller
10. Starbucks
Fortune’s Most Admired Companies, Overall:
1. General Electric
2. Starbucks
3. Toyota Motor
4. Berkshire Hathaway
5. Southwest Airlines
6. FedEx
7. Apple: (Rank among: Computers: 2, IBM #1) You could say that Apple has landed – not only on our street corners and in our malls but also, for the first time, on the top ten of our Most Admired Companies list. Apple’s peers have watched it upend industries from computers to music. And now it’s become the best retailer in America. In 2004, Apple reached $1 billion in annual sales faster than any retailer in history; last year, sales reached $1 billion a quarter. And now comes the next, if not must-have, then must-see, product. “Our stores were conceived and built for this moment in time – to roll out iPhone,” CEO Steve Jobs told Fortune. If sales are anywhere near expectations – Apple hopes to move ten million iPhones in 2008 – the typical Apple Store could be selling, in absolute terms, as much as a Best Buy, and with just a fraction of the selling space. Up 4 places from its No. 11 ranking last year.
8. Google
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Procter & Gamble
…
12. Microsoft: (Rank among: Computer Software: 4) Despite the marketing blitz for the new Vista operating system, the software giant slipped 2 places from its No. 10 ranking last year.
Full list and much more here.
No, seriously I hate do-gooders. Anyone who tries to help people in need – lame. Especially if they fail in their efforts. Then they suck twice as much.
Apple won’t be tainted by an association with PROJECT RE(D), or whatever the hell it’s called, because they’re just one of many companies associated with it. It’s unfortunate that the whole thing is more of a feel-good sham than anything else, and did Apple really need to have a special edition red iPod? But I think the failure of Bono’s ego-stroking endeavor is due precisely to the fact that no one paid any attention to it. And if no one cares in the first place, Apple can just say “Hey, we tried to help.”
G-Spank –Thanks for coming to your senses.
Sarah –
What underlying technology did Apple “steal” for the iPhone? Multitouch? We’ve all seen the Jeff Han videos. No one’s claiming Apple invented this, just put it in a potentially insanely great product.
Just because they didn’t invent it doesn’t mean they’re “stealing” it. They didn’t invent the MP3 format either, just made it work better.
As for the comparisons with Enron, are you completely out of your mind? Apple creates products. Real tangible products you can hold in your hand. Enron pushed paper around and created (false) profits. I don’t see the comparison.
Cindy’s Muff … Call me.
I love Apple and all. And I’m a Mac user (new Mac approximately every 3 years like clockwork).
But man, Bono and his holier-than-thou attitude always rubbed me the wrong way. Hopefully Red or whatever it is will die a nice quiet death.
It seems that the poster “Sarah” either has a large short position on Apple stock or once dated Steve Jobs and got dumped.
G-Spank: “Do-Gooders” actually DO suck. They actually think they’re making a difference when all they’re really doing is GETTING IN THE WAY of people who actually DO help, but quietly and behind the scenes and on a routine basis. And without looking for a ‘Thank You’.
Man, this list is amazing. I can’t believe how far Apple’s come in just the ten years since Jobs returned.
I got cheeved once.
I screw an African every night.
‘At’s right.
Mother Theresa = LAME ASS FOOL
Come onnnnnnnn, “Sarah”. You’re not a woman. Not really.
No woman can write that many words in a row. With their smaller brains. With paragraph breaks and everything.
I’m not buying it. No way.
I’m not sure why M$ isn’t in the top 10. No one innovates as much as them. I mean, honestly, it takes a certain level of talent and articulate nature to innovate crap as much as they do. They’re superstars when it comes to that.
G-Spank: “Mother Theresa = LAME ASS FOOL”
Actually, it’s “Teresa”. And she was far, far worse than a fool:
http://website.lineone.net/~bajuu/
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/1996/august96/hakeem.html
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/mother_teresa/sanal_ed.htm
Come out of your protective shell, Spank-Man.
This may be one of the funniest MDN threads ever. Really.
Triumph- Hilarious. I nearly spit my Pepsi all over my 30″.
No, I totally agree with you man. Do gooders are the bane of our society. Martin Luther King – jackass do-gooder. Jimmy Carter? Fool. And let’s not forget the biggest do-gooder of all – Jesus. Jesus was a jackass do gooder as well.
y’know Jesus and Bono have something in common. They’re both do-gooders that failed miserably. How pathetic.
Sarah seems ready to convict Steve Jobs and throw away the key on just about every story and speculation she’s read on the internet. How about waiting for the actual charges of wrongdoing before making up you mind that he’s guilty (of something)? There hasn’t been a single criminal charge against Apple or Steve Jobs and, frankly, I don’t think hyperbole meets the standard of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
OTOH, if you’ve got an axe to grind (Sarah) go for the smear campaign. We can call it the “Swiftboating of Steve Jobs”.
Jimmy Carter is a fool. He’s not just some nice old southern guy…..he’s probably one of the worst Presidents this country has ever had. What’s worse is he continues to try and screw things up.
“Jimmy Carter? Fool.”
GSpank — you finally got something right.
SackheadBob … 30″? That’s all?!? Man, I feel sorry for ya, little brother.
Thanks bro – but I’m right about all of it. I’m not partisan either. For example – Lincoln was pathetic too. That do-gooder couldn’t even keep himself from getting shot! Truly pathetic.
Since Apple is so highly regarded, let’s put those Macs to use on a grid computing and show the world how fast these computers are.
Currently, a small percentage of distributed computing is done by Macs – somewhere on the order of 2.6%. I know the market share of Macs is higher than that, so let’s show them that we are not as stingy as we currently appear to be.
Register, download, install and run it at:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do
I have setup a team here called “Mac Daily News.”
You can join multiple projects at a time. Donate your spare CPU cycles and show the world the power of the Mac. Currently, we are looking very meager, which makes us look smug to the rest of the world. Show the world that we aren’t.