"This (Apple) is a company that has faced setbacks before and bounced back to become the world's most valuable brand--worth USD 57.4 billion," Forbes said, explaining the company's number 1 position in its Top 50 world's most valuable brands 2010 list.

"Apple shows just how a brand can survive and thrive even when a parent company stumbles. Apple's sales in the late 1990s plummeted 46 per cent over a four-year stretch while the company lost money seven times over eight quarters", said the magazine.
Interestingly, tech brands occupied four of the first five places in the rankings and claimed 30 per cent of the top 50 brands. Financial services and food and beverage firms each captured six spots.

Tech major Apple, which topped the list, was followed by software major Microsoft with a brand value of USD 56.6 billion.

Beverages firm, Coca Cola was third at USD 55.4 billion, followed by technology giant IBM, now worth USD 43 billion. Search engine Google was fifth in the ranking with USD 39.7 billion.

McDonald's, General Electric, Marlboro, Intel and Finnish handset maker Nokia featured in the top 10 list.

"The brands on our list fared a little better, with sales on average flat in 2009. Some brands were hit hard by the economic downturn as well as their own missteps," the Forbes noted.
Toyota, Vodafone, Pepsi, Nescafe, Frito-Lay, ESPN and Gucci were the other brands in the top 50 list.