14 DAY TRIAL // A research published by Brand Finance reveals that Apple is no longer the most valuable brand in the world, losing the leading spot to Google (it’s most likely Alphabet, the company that owns the search engine company as well, but the study refers to the firm using its old name).
And what’s very important for the Microsoft community is that the Redmond-based software giant is actually very close to the top spots, with a brand value that’s growing every year.
Specifically, Google is the leader with an estimated brand value of $109,470 million, up 24 percent from the year before, while Apple is the runner-up with $107,141 million, down 27 percent.
Amazon and AT&T are next, while Microsoft is the fifth company in the chart with $76,265 million, a growth of no less than 13 percent from 2016.
Apple down, Microsoft up
As to the reasons that contributed to the decline of the Apple brand, the research shows that it’s all because even the company’s hardcore fans are losing their faith in the firm, partially as a result of the latest products that brought only small improvements over their predecessors. Both the iPhone 7 and the new MacBook Pro failed to impress in the same way as older models.
“Apple has struggled to maintain its technological advantage, with new iterations of the iPhone delivering diminishing returns, while the Chinese market is now crowded with local competitors. Apple has been living on borrowed time for several years by exploiting its accumulated brand equity. This underlines one of the many benefits of a strong brand, but Apple has finally taken it too far,” David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, explained.
When it comes to the growth that Microsoft experiences these days, CEO Satya Nadella is the one to praise for the direction embraced by the software giant in the last couple of years.
Nadella pushed Microsoft towards a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and at first glance, these efforts are already paying off, with cloud becoming the company’s top cash flow.