Apple has been named most valuable global brand by renowned business magazine Forbes.
Though it’s not the first time this year that Apple has been judged most valuable brand, the crown from Forbes is arguably more prestigious. The business magazine has revealed its most valuable brands, and Apple comes in ahead of both Microsoft and Google.
Forbes recites Apple’s value of $124.2 billion and notes that it is almost twice as much as second-placed Microsoft, at $63 billion.
It says that the success is largely down to the “tremendous weight and credibility, and customers are willing to pay up for that.” Forbes also runs through some figures, noting that Apple sold 39.3 million iPhones in its latest quarter, and could see sales of around 60 million thanks to the upcoming holiday season.
Apple also sold 12.3 million iPads and 5.5 million Macs. And while shareholders have been concerned that iPad sales have been largely flat over the last couple of years, Forbes also notes that Apple’s brand power here is significant. Second-placed Microsoft recently struck a deal with NFL worth $400 million over 5 years to ensure that the NFL used Microsoft’s Surface tablets. However, reports have come in that announcers and players still refer to the tablets as iPads.
Forbes determined the best brands by choosing those that had some presence in the US, while looking at their value based on average price-to-earnings over the last three years.