by Felix Richter, Statista.com
Despite the difficulties Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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. This brand value is 62% greater than the number two brand, making Apple clearly the brand name top dog.
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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) and IBM (NYSE: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 (NYSE:MCD) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO). With an estimated brand value of $70 billion, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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.
Six of the top ten brands are in the tech/telecom sectors.
Today’s chart shows the world’s ten most valuable brands in 2013.
Click on graphic for larger image.
