Apple still dominates world’s top brands

Apple has maintained its place as the world's most valuable brand over the past year, leading a group of technology-related companies that dominate the top 10, according to a leading study.
The iPhone and iPad maker has boosted its brand value by 19% in the past year to $183 bln, or 37% of its market capitalisation, according to the annual BrandZ study by leading brands and market-research agency Millward Brown.
Facebook, with a market value of $82 bln after its IPO last week, was the fastest climber in the top 100, seeing its brand value rise by 74% to $33.2 bln to put it in 19th place.
Seven of the top ten were technology-related firms, although McDonald's and Coca-Cola kept their respective number four and number six rankings.
Marlboro moved up a notch to seventh place despite anti-smoking campaigns in much of the world.
Millward Brown, part of global advertising group WPP, takes as its starting point the financial value of the company or the part of the company that produces the brand, and combines it with the brand's ability to create loyalty.
Business technology brands also featured prominently in the top 10, with IBM switching places with Google to rise to second place. Microsoft kept its position at number five.
Mobile phone brands AT&T as number eight, Verizon as number nine, and China Mobile completed the top 10.
The study added that Apple's increasing its brand value despite the death of its visionary founder Steve Jobs in the past year was extraordinary.