There’s a new most valued brand in town—Apple has made it to the top of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list for this year. Coca-Cola had been in first place since 2000, when most people still considered Apple to be a fruit. Now the company lies in third place with a value of $79.2 billion while Apple rose 28% to $98.3 billion. Google takes second place with a value of $93.3 billion.
Factors such as customer loyalty, brand influence, and financial performance are what determine the companies’ ranking. CNN reports that Apple’s boost in ranking could be credited to its rising presence and popularity in China. Samsung was able to top Apple in the total number of smartphones sold worldwide. However, during the first weekend of the new iPhone 5S release, over 9 million units were sold, compared to the 5 million sold after the release of the iPhone 5 last year. The number of tech brands featured on the list has been increasing over the years as technology continues to advance.
Other notable companies on the list include I.B.M., Microsoft, McDonald’s and Facebook down in 52nd place. This marks its second year on the list. Speaking of Facebook, Coca-Cola still remains far ahead of Apple pertaining to the number of “likes” each has on Facebook, which is a shocking 73.2 million to just 9.8 million for Apple and 15.1 million for Google. Facebook is also the only social network site that is currently on the list. Nokia, which once had the largest share of the mobile device market, fell dramatically to 57th place; the biggest decline the list has ever had, while Blackberry made it completely off the list. Samsung Electronics Co. had overtaken Nokia in 2012. The list shown displays the top 10 firms for 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Jez Frampton, the CEO of Interbrand mentioned a memorable quote stated by Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” They didn’t know that they’d soon have this necessity for a car, until Ford gave it to them. In this sense, millions of Apple consumers didn’t know that they’d need an iPad or iPhone, until Apple gave that to them.
Vanessa Lopez, sophomore, stated “It isn’t surprising [that Apple is now the most valued brand]. Honestly, a lot of us are obsessed with Apple products. I have a MacBook and an iPhone and most of my friends have Apple iPhones and computers. And Apple is innovative- they have a great marketing team and they were able to break records on their release of the iPhone 5S.”
With Apple releasing a new phone almost every year, the craze continues, the lines outside the Apple store get longer, and our wallets get emptier- at least for us “iPhone veterans”. The new iOS7 update that was released last month may have been but a minor change with new graphics for some people, but for others it was a whole new experience. From that we could conclude that the Apple craze will continue to go on as long as they continue to introduce new ideas to the market.
Apple has come a long way since CEO Tim Cook was appointed. Cook is 35th in place on Forbes’ Most Powerful People list. Just last year, it had been named the most valuable company in history in terms of market capitalization.
Interbrand’s CEO Jez Frampton states “Tim Cook has assembled a solid leadership team and has kept Steve Jobs’ vision intact — a vision that has allowed Apple to deliver on its promise of innovation time and time again,” expressing great confidence in Apple’s current CEO.
