Does Apple deserve to be ranked as the world’s top brand?

There is no doubt that Apple has fully realised the vision of its now sadly deceased founder, Steve Jobs. The technology firm has undoubtedly placed itself at the forefront of the contemporary electronics marketplace, and has done so by establishing a highly distinctive brand that has a street cachet and fashion kudos that few other electronics manufacturers share; a quality that is worth its weight in gold in such a consumer-driven industry.

The ability of Apple to establish itself as such a distinctive and admired brand has recently received the ultimate acknowledgement. Apple ousted Coca-Cola in a recent list of the world’s leading global brands, with Interbrand placing the technology firm above such obvious competitors as Google, IBM and Microsoft, along with other infamous names such as McDonald’s and General Electric.

But is this exalted position actually deserved? Does Apple merit its position as the world’s most notable brand? Or has Apple in fact been rather overhyped?

One thing can be said for certain instantly – Apple has created many of the iconic products in the consumer electronics market of the last decade or so, ever since the launch of the iPod back in 2001. The iBrand has become so popular and recognisable in design terms that the distinctive name for Apple’s range of media players, smartphones and attendant software has become a shorthand for similar products all over the world; hence the BBC’s iPlayer, for example.

This is no mean feat in the hugely crowded marketplace that is consumer electronics. When we hear that Argos are launching their own tablet computer, we know for certain that this is a rampantly successful industry. Yet Apple have remained at the absolute forefront of the market, with their iPhone, iPad and iPod often imitated, but never bettered, even if the Samsung Galaxy has established itself as the world’s most used smartphone.

Apple devotees will also state that iMacs offer a vastly superior user experience to PCs in several ways. And it’s hard to disagree with this too strongly, given the absolutely unequalled design of the iMac which has yet to be seriously challenged by any desktop PC. iMacs also run like clockwork, rarely get viruses, have a magnificent and intuitive operating system, and retain a fashion aesthetic that PCs have thus far failed to match.

Having said that, Apple products have been criticised quite strongly over this last point, with something of a backlash emerging against them recently for providing style over substance. Many consumers have argued that Apple’s products are excessively expensive, and yet offer inferior specifications to rivals’ devices. In addition, Apple have been accused of creating products that are designed to be cash cows, with recent iterations of the iMac lambasted for not featuring a disc drive; presumably an attempt to force users to download as much media as possible from their iTunes service.

It is also debatable whether Apple can sincerely be considered to be as recognisable as Coca-Cola. While this isn’t the only factor to be taken into consideration in Interbrand’s top ten list, the very notion of branding is predicated on the notion of being instantly recognisable, by ‘brand awareness’. This is what every major company in the world aims fanatically to achieve, and I would find it extremely difficult to argue that more people would recognise an iPhone than a can of coke. It must be conceded that Apple is competing in a much more diverse industry than Coca-Cola, but it seems premature to state that they’ve usurped the soft drinks manufacturer.

Whatever criticisms Apple have received, though, when one witnesses the overnight queues for the release of the new iPhone, even their staunchest critic would have to concede that they’re doing something very right indeed. While success by its very nature incites envy and criticism, no-one can reasonably deny that Apple remains the driving force, innovator and most oft-imitated electronics manufacturer in the world. And you know that they say about imitation and flattery…

Christopher Morris is a regular contributor to Yahoo on television, cinema, video games, technology and politics.

Does Apple deserve to be ranked as the world’s top brand?