Apple Inc., the tech behemoth known to all as the maker of the infamous iPhone, has yet again been recognized as the most valuable brand in the world, according to a new report from Interbrand. The company has now topped the annual rankings for four consecutive years. It is followed by the likes of tech behemoth Google, beverage maker Coca-Cola, Redmond giant Microsoft, among others.
For the compilation of the annual report, the branding agency takes the company’s financial performance, its influence on consumers, and its power to drive company sales into consideration. Even after a faltering year, where the sale of iPhones declined for the first time in years, Apple has still managed to retain consumer trust with excellent financial results. Thus, this has ultimately contributed to the company still retaining its top position.
Cupertino’s value rose by 5 per cent to a monstrous $178.1 billion, which is about a 35 fold increase as compared to the company’s worth when it joined the list in 2002. It’s value has only steadily increased from $5.2 billion to the aforementioned significant figure, and the future prospects only seem brighter. The company is now not relying solely on its hardware product sales to drive growth and is working on fledging technologies including machine learning, autonomous vehicles, IoT and VR. It has a total market cap of about $611 billion.
Apple shows how ecosystems drive value. Analysts have often pointed out that “Apple has superior products.” While true, this opinion undersells the brilliance of Apple’s functionally integrated model. Its software, hardware, and touchpoints are connected not just by beautiful design aesthetics, but by a level of interoperability that justifies the Apple premium and discourages defections to another platform,
mentions the brand value report.
While Apple still retained its title of the most valued brand, it was closely followed by its arch-enemy Google. The Mountain View-based tech behemoth showed more growth than Cupertino, and totaled in on an equally staggering value of $133.25 billion. Even after a 7 per cent decline in value, the third spot has been bagged by Coca Cola.
The Top 100 brand list includes a total 29 technology and automotive brands. New additions to the list include french fashion brand Dior — which debuted at 89 with a value of $4909 mn and Tesla, the electric vehicle maker led by visionary Elon Musk. It has joined in the list at the last spot, with a value of $4011 mn. None of the renowned Indian companies were able to make the cut to be recognized as one of the most valued brands in the world.
While Apple might have hit the mark to become the world’s most valued brands, but it is nowhere to be seen amongst the list of top growing brands in 2016. This spot has been snapped by the one and only social network whose primary aim is to make the internet more open and connect all 7 billion individuals of the world. Yes, that’s Facebook.
Under the leadership of Zuckerberg, the company has grown not only into the largest social platform, but is now also seen as one of the most innovative companies in the world. It currently has over 1.7 billion users on Facebook, a billion users each on WhatsApp and Messenger and about 500 million monthly active users. It is working on solar-powered drones, terrestrial antennas, Oculus VR, Zuckerberg Chan Initiative, MAREA underwater cable network and a lot more.
For those interested in knowing more about the growth of the most valued brands in the world can read the complete report right here.
