Apple Overtakes Google As World's Most Valuable Brand

Apple has knocked search engine giant Google off the top spot in this year's rankings of the 100 most powerful and most valuable brands worldwide.

Google has been number one for the last four years but has this year been overtaken by Apple, according to a study by Millward Brown, an agency specialising in the analysis of global brand value.

An 84% increase in the Cupertino tech firm's estimated value within the last year has taken its 2011 brand value to $153 bn (approximately £93 bn), which is over 50% greater than Apple's market capitalisation. In the space of the same one year period, Google saw its brand value drop 2% to a total of $111.5 bn. 

The success of Apple's iPad and iPhone no doubt have something to do with this sudden jump in global brand value.