Apple best global brand

Interbrand's latest ranking saw US giant Apple jump to the top of the table in its 2013 Best Global Brands ranking. Fellow US company Google secured second place, while Coca Cola, which had led the field for 13 consecutive years, had to put up with third position.

Apple was quoted as having had a market value of $6.6 billion (4.9 billion euros) back in the year 2000, adding it was now roughly 15 times as valuable at $98.3 billion.

Interbrand noted that Apple was able to shoot to the top because of its consumer-friendly products, its innovation drive and splendid product design. It said the company had sold 72 million Macs and a record number of iPhones and iPads.

German brands runners-up

"It happens once in a while that a company manages to change our lives significantly, not only with its product, but also with its general approach to business operations and its public appearance," Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton said in a statement.

The total brand value of all 100 listed firms in the ranking amounted to $1.5 trillion, Interbrand stated. The group of the nine German firms represented in the ranking also logged considerable increases in value, with Volkswagen and Porsche booking the biggest annual gains at 20 percent and 26 percent respectively .

Nonetheless, US firms continued to be the uncontested winners of the Best Global Brands competition this year, with almost half of the 100 firms coming from the United States. Germany took second place, with the total value of its nine listed firms amounting to $128.53 billion, marking a 12.7-percent jump over last year's results.

hg/hc (dpa, AFP)