Cupertino, California based Apple has taken over first place from Coca-Cola as the No. 1 brand in the world. The company, originally founded by the late Steve Jobs, is now the leader in performance and design, according to a recent study of the world’s top 100 commercial brands.
The brand value for Apple jumped 28% to over $98.2 billion, while Google took over second place with a value of $93.3 billion. Coca-Cola, which held the top place for 13 consecutive years, fell to third with $79.2 billion.
The study, held annually, is closely watched and determines the value of the company’s brand by examining financial performance, its influence on consumer buying and its ability to secure it earnings.
The companies that climbed the most from last year were technology based, while those declining were as well. Google was up by 34%, while Samsung increased 20%. At the same time, Nokia dropped from 19th place to 57th, which was the biggest fall in the 14-year history of the study. Blackberry and Yahoo fell out of the rankings.
The movement up or down in places reflects turmoil within the technology sector in the last year. Nokia was overtaken in 2012 by Samsung as the world’s largest market share holder of mobile devices. Then Microsoft decided to split the Finnish based company and purchase its phone business.
Part of the sale included Microsoft licensing the Nokia brand for 10 years for only the models on the low end. The fancier mobile devices will not be labeled with the Nokia brand any longer.
