Apple is the most valuable brand in the world, having been named Interbrand's best global brand for 2013.
After 13 consecutive years at the top, Coca-Cola was toppled from the number one spot by Apple, falling to number three on the list, behind Google.
The Interbrand report is published annually and identifies the 100 most valuable global brands. The report is compiled based on the financial performance of the brands' products or services and to what extent the brands are able to influence consumer preferences. Interbrand also examines if brands are able to command a premium price for their offerings.
Apple made its debut on the list in 2000, at number 36. Since then, the company's brand value has increased almost 15-fold, from $6.6 billion to $98.3 billion. Last year, Apple ranked second on the list; its brand value increased 28% from 2012. After announcing a record $54.5 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2013, Apple's success isn't too surprising.
"Every so often, a company changes our lives - not just with its products, but with its ethos," said Jez Frampton, Interbrand's global CEO, who added that Apple's ascent to the top was perhaps just "a matter of time".
"What is it they say, 'long live the king'?" Frampton asked. "This year, the king is Apple."
Runner-up Google moved up two spots from its 2012 ranking and actually outdid Apple in terms of brand value increase, rising 34%. Interbrand attributes this increase to the evolution of Google's core search, Android and Gmail offerings, coupled with the search engine's new innovations like Google Glass.
Winners and losers
But it wasn't just Apple and Google that performed well in 2013; the technology sector was the most valuable overall, with a combined brand value of $443.154 billion.
Six tech companies featured in the top 10. These included IBM at number four, with a brand value increase of 4%, and Microsoft in fifth place, with its brand value rising 3%. Intel was at number nine, despite a 5% reduction in its brand value, and Samsung took the eighth spot, increasing 20%. According to a recent report from Strategy Analytics, Samsung's ascent could make things a little tougher for Apple going forward, with Samsung's 33% smartphone market share dwarfing Apple's 13.6% share. Apple is still outdoing Samsung in the tablet space, however.
"Brands like Apple, Google and Samsung are changing our behaviour: how we buy, how we communicate with each other, even whether we speak with each other," Frampton said. "They have literally changed the way we live our lives."
Other tech successes included Facebook, which moved up 17 spots to 52, and was the top rising brand of 2013. Facebook's brand value increased 43%. Online retailer Amazon, ranked 19, saw a 27% increase in its brand value and was also one of the top rising brands in 2013.
But some tech companies didn't do as well. This year's biggest faller - the biggest decline in the history of the report - was Nokia, which ranked 57th. The Finnish multinational dropped from 19th position in 2012 and saw a brand value decrease of 65%. Unsurprisingly, BlackBerry, which ranked 93 on the list in 2012, failed to make the cut this year. Neither did search engine Yahoo.
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