Google pips Microsoft as world's top brand

The 'Brandz' study (pdf) by Millward Brown said that the search engine's brand value increased by 77 percent. Microsoft fell from last year's top ranking to third place with a US$54.9bn brand value. General Electric came in second at US$61.9bn.

Other high ranking technology vendor included IBM (10th at US$33.6bn), Nokia(12th at US$31.7bn), HP (15th at US$25.0bn) and Apple (16th at US$24.7bn).

"Success stories from this year's Brandz Top 100 demonstrate that winning brands leverage major market trends effectively to create business value," said Joanna Seddon, chief exective for Millward Brown.

"Strong brands are capable of extending into areas of opportunity to access new revenue streams and to help businesses respond to market changes."

The ranking attempts to put a dollar value on a brand based on current and expected future earnings. The figure is based on both hard economic data as well as softer variables such as intangible consumer loyalty and perceived growth potential.

Strong brands in the field of technology have to be able to stretch to include new product categories and converge with existing categories. The study touted Apple's iPhone; Sony Ericsson's Walkman branded mobile phone and Nokia's all-in-one mobile computers as examples illustrating the convergence trend.

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