iPod makes Apple world leader

In the year of the iPod, Apple has emerged as the world’s most powerful brand, a new survey of branding professionals has found.

A poll of 2000 correspondents by online brand resource, Brandchannel, found Apple to be most influential brand over runner-up Google -- which had won the two years previous.

Ikea and Starbucks came next, but the big surprise was Arabic news channel Al Jazerra which came in at fifth place.

The global poll was also divided by region, and in the Asia-Pacific, the only Australian brand to get a look in was Lonely Planet in fifth place

The poll results reflect a solid year for Apple: the iPod shipped fifty percent of all iPods ever sold in 2004 alone, and this has contributed to a net profit of US$295 million in the last quarter of 2004, and a net income growth of 300 percent on the previous year.