Apple’s five year reign as the world’s most valuable brand has come to an end. For now.
Even though the iPhone-maker reported historic revenues and profits during its Q1 2017 earnings call yesterday, Google has supplanted Apple in the latest brand rankings.
Apple has held onto the top spot of Brand Finance’s annual rankings since 2012 thanks its dominance in the smartphone and tablet markets. In 2016 the company’s brand value slipped an astonishing 27% though according to the latest listings on Brand Finance Global 500.
Another of reason supposedly contributed to Apple’s drop. The firm says one the key factors when making its assessment was “a perceived over-exploitation of the goodwill of customers.” They don’t go on to explain exactly what Apple did to exploit customers though. Top tech brands catching up to Apple in other sectors also hasn’t helped.
Following Google and Apple is Amazon in third place. A number of Chinese brands also rose up in the ranks. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited was the only one to crack the top 10, but China Mobile and China Construction Bank landed in the top 20.
Here’s the list of top 10 brands:
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
3 responses to “Google tops Apple to become world’s most valuable brand”
I have profited $104k in last twelve months by freelancing on-line and I did that by working part time for 3+ hrs /day. I followed work opportunity I was introduced by this company i found online and I am so amazed that i earned so much money. It’s so user-friendly and I am just so happy that i found this. Here’s what I do… STATICTAB.COM/8cx4rgs
I would not necessarily call it “over-exploitation of the goodwill of customers”, but I am inclined to overall agree with Brand Finance. Apple has a huge problem when it comes to new products and customer interaction.
AirPods is a great example. To date, how many have shipped and how often can any customer simply drop by any store and pick up a pair?
There seems to be a huge disconnect when it comes to Apple and realizing how to treat customers – not when a customer needs help from Apple, but when a new customer simply wants to purchase a new product. Far too often Apple creates a new product or a revision to a existing product and limited stock prevents customers from purchasing one.
While it will be hard, Apple must do more in this area. It is far too common place for customers to not be able to purchase a new product for weeks – sometimes months – after a release. Limited stock will always be a challenge, but Apple has to do better.
I myself have given up on finding AirPods – bought a competitor brand and am reasonably happy. Apple lost out on my money, but with $258B in the bank, why should they care. And thats the problem.
The main reason I can’t be optimistic about Apple’s future is it’s looking more and more like they’ve ran out of ideas. Bluetooth headphones should never be a headliner for the world’s most valuable brand, period. And those are late to the game. I’ll stay within the Apple ecosystem until my products reach end of life, but it’ll be a sad day when Google/Microsoft are the best alternatives.