According to a new study by global brands agency Millward Brown, Apple has overtaken Google to become the world’s most valuable brand. Apple ended a four-year run by Google at the top of the brand ranking.

The new position is mainly attributed to the huge success of iPhones and iPads among both consumers and corporations. Apple has increased its brand value by $137bn, or 859 per cent, since 2006 when the BrandZ rankings were launched. Notably, Apple increased its brand value by 84 percent between 2010 and 2011. Apple now stands at $153.3 billion, which is half the company’s market value.. Google saw its brand value fall by 2 percent between 2010 and 2011 and has been estimated with a brand value of $111.5 billion.

Peter Walshe, global brands director at Millward Brown, says Apple's meticulous attention to detail, along with an increasing presence of its gadgets in corporate environments, have allowed it to behave differently from other consumer-electronics makers.He added , "Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model. It's doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire."

Among the top 10 brands in the report, six of them are technology and telecoms companies: Google at number two, IBM at number three, Microsoft at number five, AT&T at number seven and China Mobile at number nine. The fastest growth in brand value came for Facebook, up 246% to $19.1 billion and no. 35 on the list. Amazon at no. 14, edged out Walmart at no. 15 as the most-valuable retail brand. HP is at number 18.

The Millward Brown report uses company’s own valuation of their brand combined with consumer research and potential growth to calculate each brand’s value.

Source : Most Valuable Brand - Apple