How did they actually measure "most valuable"? Man on the street interviews, "Excuse me sir, how much do you think the brand Coca-Cola is worth?" ?

@Megalomania: I interpret it as time spent saturating the market (which is why Coca-Cola is a surefire winner) and market saturation (which, again, is why Coca-Cola is a winner). Coke has had more than a century to spread its products throughout the world.

I think IBM is second because it produces the vast majority of the world's computer processors.

@Megalomania: This is the "criteria"

1. There must be substantial publicly available financial data.
2. One third of the brand's revenues must come from outside its country of origin.
3. The brand must be positioned to play a significant role in the consumers' purchase decision.
4. The Economic Value Added (EVA) must be positive, showing that there is revenue above the company's operating and fi nancing costs.
5. The brand must have a broad public profile and awareness.

Which is incredibly open to interpretation a the write ups for each brand don't really coincide with their position on the list. I understand Coke as number one, but some of them I think they used the "blindfolded throw at a dartboard" method.

What is BWM? Is that like the Roldex I bought last time I was in NYC? LOL

All kidding aside, I didn't realize Coca-Cola was worth that much. I know they own lots of other things and are pretty ubiquitous, but I just never think of them the way I think of an IBM or even a McD's.

So Microsoft finished higher than Apple. Is there a fanboi war coming?

But... where are all the banks?

@pecan 3.14159265: Computer Processors?

@statgrad: Per TinkishDelight's criteria, I don't think there are any international banks that pull in 1/3rd of their revenue from countries outside their home country.

@pecan 3.14159265: Ugh, fail on my part. I was looking at the list and thinking about "Intel" while I was typing "IBM."

IBM's saturation, IMO, is due to the amount of business ware they produce - laptops, servers, etc.

@pecan 3.14159265: IBM makes nowhere near the vast majority of CPUs. Intel has over an 80% marketshare. IBM is probably behind even AMD and ARM as apart from minor things like the CBE for the PS3, they make massively expensive (and powerful) servers that not many people are in the market for.

I must say, I'd heard of all of the brands on that list back in India, except for H&M. But that might have more to do with me being fashion blind than anything else...

@statgrad: Very few banks pull large amount of profits internationally and usually operate under different names and brands -- like Sovereign is the "Standeir Group" or something in Europe.

@MostlyHarmless: I heart H&M.

@pecan 3.14159265:

Sorry pi, IBM doesn't make laptops anymore either. Although they do still make servers. They sold off their laptop and PC business to Lenevo several years ago.

In any event, I think their primary source of income these days is software and services - not hardware of any kind.

@MostlyHarmless: If American Apparel and Forever 21 (or any other cheap skanky mall store) had a baby it would look at lot like H&M. You are not missing much.

@TinkishDelight: Oh I've seen them around here a lot. I'm just saying I hadnt heard of them back in India 3-5 years ago.

@YouDidWhatNow?: They've made laptops longer than they haven't been making them, hence their influence.

Nescafe? As in instant coffee? How the hell did that even make the list?

@TinkishDelight: I hate American Apparel and I kind of hate Forever 21 (but their belts are cheap and cute), but H&M is pretty awesome. Most of their quality coats are fully lined, and 100% wool.

1. American
2. American
3. American
4. American
5. Finnish
6. American
7. American
8. Japanese
9. American
10. American
11. American
12. German
13. American
14. American
15. Bavarian (German?)
16. French
17. American
18. Japanese
19. Korean
20. American
21. Swedish
22. American
23. American
24. American
25. American

Interesting (not in a political sense, but in a sociological/cultural influence sense.)

@pecan 3.14159265:
When I was selling laptops, you would say Lenovo and they say huh? You say "it's the new name for IBM" and they would go "ohh ok" and the glazed over dumb look would go away.

So yeah I know what you meant. (typing this on a Lenovo ideapad ;P)

@jokono: 15. Oops. Meant to change that to just German.

@pecan 3.14159265: I know I'm in the minority but I passionately hate that place. Like burn it down, salt the earth hate it. You can't mass market fashion nuances damn it!

ok, i've heard of 24 of those. (never heard of H&M, which is apparently a swedish cloting company)
i've used/owned/purchased wares from 19 of those.

I guess Ikea didn't make this list cause Americans don't buy enough stuff?

I'm puzzled by the article title. It doesn't appear to be noteworthy that Samsung and Microsoft beat Apple, because both beat Apple in previous years. MS has been number 2 or 3 since 2000. Both Microsoft and Samsung decreased while Apple increased. So why pick that article title?

Wow.. the only one that really suprises me is the Google/Disney ranking.. Disney is huge and has been for a long long time.. Google, I admit is huge.. but wow did it take off fast in comparison. I mean, I remember when I was telling people, "Hey don't search on Yahoo/Excite/Altivista, try this new one called Google!"

@pecan 3.14159265:

Ikea is 28 and gaining. They went up 10%.

@gStein:

They sell nice, fashionable clothes at reasonable prices, but they apparently only sell pants for guys who have girly legs. Their pants that fit my waist area always too tight around the thighs.

"16. Louis Vuitton"

Really? I'm dubious.

@Shadowman615:

You must be American. In mostly all of Europe and northern Asia, Nescafe is how you pronounce coffee.

@tbax929 is chilling in San Diego: Oh yes. I declare war on Microtheft! Apple fanbois, unite!

@jokono: Interesting as in AWESOME!

@GuidedByLemons: I'm not. Louis Vuitton is a very strong worldwide brand and has had a century to saturate the market with its goods, and also makes clothing and shoes.

Was Aptiva IBM's last shot at hardware?

I remember the ads seeing children singing "Aptivaaaaaaa... Aptiva!"

@Cant_stop_the_rock: You are correct. The title should be "Apple continues losing to Microsoft, Samsung"

@pecan 3.14159265: I don't dispute that it's a very strong brand in its very narrow market, but come on, would you really rather own their brand than, say, Honda's? It's a question of scale.

@pecan 3.14159265:

You make these comments now, but will you be ready when Ikea takes over the world?

I, for one, will welcome our new Ikean overlords.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!:

Excite? Altavista? I just checked to see if those website still exist. TURNS OUT THEY DO! Who knew? I wonder if my free website from excite is archived somewhere...

But, seriously, I too remember when a friend of mine told me about Google. "The greatest search engine ever" he said. I still use it to this day.

@GuidedByLemons:

I know a lot of women that would absolutely own Louis Vuitton over Honda. Well, over ANY brand of ANYTHING, actually.

Women and their shopping, I'll tell ya!

@GuinevereRucker:

I'm am Apple shareholder as well as an primarily an Apple user (but I also use Windows and some Linux). That being said, I completely agree that the Microsoft brand is going to beat Apple. Microsoft has the lion's share of the market in both OS and productivity software. Apple has ipods and iphones, but microsoft has xbox and Zune.

@Cant_stop_the_rock:

Because sensation gets clicks and readership.

The bigger questions is how did Nescafe get to be 25?

@jokono:

Number 25 (nescafe) is Swiss.

@Cant_stop_the_rock:

They also must only have ONE store in the greater boston area that has a mens section, as the Downtown crossing one is the only H&M I've seen around here with mens clothing.

@XianZomby:
Or perhaps it should be something noteworthy, like "Google gains 25%"

@gerrycomo:
Last shot at home desktop hardware. They continued to sell Thinkpads until they sold the brand to Lenovo. They still sell servers.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!:
Looks like if trends continue, Google will be #3 within a couple of years.

@gerrycomo: They also make a big chunk of change manufacturing the processors for all 3 current generation game consoles.

@wrjohnston19283: Yes, you're right... but I can still whine about it!

@Shadowman615: I'm American, but I live in Japan. If you live abroad for awhile, you get a good sense of the fact that a lot of brands mean more abroad than they do in the U.S., and some mean far less. Apple means far less in Asia than Microsoft or IBM.

Questioning the validity of this list is an indication that you're from the United States and have little experience abroad. There's nothing wrong with that, but it is an invitation to alter your perspective and understand that we all live in a bubble and see "normal" as what occurs in our bubble. Outside of our bubbles, there are vast worlds of differences that represent other people's views of "normality", "valuable" and "average".