Apple has been ranked most valuable global brand for the second year in a row, according to Interbrand’s top 100 list in its Best Global Brands 2014 report.
The Californian company was placed ahead of tech rival Google, placed second, and giant soft drinks manufacturers, Coca Cola, which placed third. Coca Cola fell from second place last year, having been displaced by Apple which hit the top spot for the first time.
In the report, Apple is valued at $118.9 billion, a 21% increase over last year, while Google is worth $107.4 billion – a 15% increase, indicating that Apple is currently safe in its position due to growing faster than its closest rivals.
The presence of tech and internet brands in the top 100 has increased over the years – and now takes up half of the top 20, which features IBM (4th), Microsoft (5th), Samsung (7th), Intel (12th), Cisco (14th), Amazon (5th – top risers with an increase in value of 25%), Oracle (16th), and HP (17th). Total value of tech firms within the top 100 is a huge $493.2 billion.
Interbrand refers to Apple Pay, the new mobile payments platform that was announced alongside the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus back in September as one of the key indicators as to why Apple is the top brand. “Though the spotlight may remain on the new products for some time, the real breakthrough is the way all of Apple’s products-and thousands more from other developers, manufacturers, and services-now work together,” notes the report.
Interbrand is a consulting company that has been compiling the Best Global Brands report since 2000.