Tech Giants Top Global Brand Ranking

Despite the difficulties Apple has faced as a company in the past six months, the Apple brand remains as strong as ever. That’s according to Millward Brown’s Brandz Top 100 ranking published earlier this week. Millward Brown estimates the implicit value of Apple as a brand at $185 billion, up from $183 billion in 2012. Apple’s strong image allows the company to continue charging a significant premium for its products, even in cases where its competition has caught up technologically. The average selling price of Apple’s iPhone is currently around $600, a price that Apple’s competitors can rarely push through.

With Google and IBM, two more technology brands complete the Top 3. Although both companies are trailing Apple’s brand value by a significant margin, at $114 billion and $113 billion respectively, they still hold a commanding lead over the high-profile consumer brands McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. With an estimated brand value of $70 billion, Microsoft dropped two ranks compared to last year’s ranking, as the brand’s image has suffered from the negative press associated with the lacklustre start of Windows 8.