Tomas Chlebek As every year, the BrandZ database of the analytical company Millward Brown has published the current ranking of the most valuable brands in the world, comparing the current values with those of last year. Apple occupies the highest position in it by a large margin.
Apple was on it for the last time two years ago. Indeed, in the past dropped to second position for Google. Its value was set at less than 148 billion dollars. In a year, this value rose by a dizzying 67%, i.e. to almost 247 billion dollars.
Google, last year's defeater of the Cupertinos, also improved, but only by 9% to just under 173 billion dollars. One of Apple's biggest mobile rivals, Samsung, was ranked 29th a year ago, but has since slipped to 45th. Other Apple-related brands that didn't make the top ten include Facebook (12th), Amazon (14th), HP (39th), Oracle (44th) and Twitter (92nd).
The creators of the ranking listed the reasons why Apple swung back to the top quite clearly. The hugely successful larger iPhones 6 and 6 Plus played a big role, but also new services. Although Apple Pay is still only available in the US, after its introduction there it influenced not only the way people pay, but also the popularity of banks that enable this service. HealthKit, on the other hand, can be used by all owners of devices with iOS 8, and this is happening not only among athletes, but also among doctors, who use its capabilities to revolutionize the field of medical research.
We must not forget about the Apple Watch, which received a moderate reception from reviewers, but buyers expressed great interest. Their influence on the perception of the Apple brand can be significant because the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition in particular are presented as luxury goods, even more so than the company's other products.
Millward Brown takes into account the opinions of more than three million users from fifty countries when compiling the BrandZ ranking. Apple's brand value reflects user loyalty and belief in the company's capabilities.
It is interesting that ten years ago (two years before the introduction of the first iPhone), when Millward Brown started creating brand rankings, Apple did not fit into the ranking by one hundred positions.
It would require repeating basic math, 246 million is 992 billion. This would be quite weak if the world's most valuable companies had values "only" in the hundreds and tens of millions of dollars :)