Since the 2007 introduction of the original iPhone, Apple has continued to go from strength to strength, with the sales of, and general response to, its wider product range having improved annually. Now, for the eight time in a row, the Cupertino-based outfit has topped the list of World’s Most Admired Companies, and with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus having made as much of an impression on the sales charts as popular culture, just edged out Google in second place.
Drafted by Fortune, the run-down of the World’s Most Admired Companies sampled the opinions of 4,104 experts including company directors, executives and securities analysts, and tasked them with listing the ten companies they admired the most.
In addition, there was also a ‘Nine Key Attributes of Reputation’ scoring system, which assessed companies on the fundamental aspects of innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment value, quality of products / services and global competitiveness. Apple managed to score 1 on each category – the best score possible – and here, for the sake of clarification, is the list of the top 10.
- Apple
- Berkshire Hathaway
- Amazon.com
- Starbucks
- Walt Disney
- Southwest Airlines
- American Express
- General Electric
- Coca-Cola
Google has climbed into second place, displacing Amazon which dropped to fourth, and although the buzz surrounding Project Glass may have died down a little, the introduction of Android 5.0 has been well-received by the admittedly few who’ve been able to use it. Looking ahead, the search giant’s I/O conference has already been confirmed, with registrations taking place on March 17th, and if we get a glimpse of the self-driven Uber competitor that is being rumored, the admiration level could see the Big G top this list next time around.
Then again, it has also been reported that Apple has plans of its own in the automotive field, and with Apple Watch set to release in the coming weeks, it’s hard to see past the Mac maker topping the pile in twelve months’ time when Fortune once again reels in the votes.
Whatever the case, we, as geeks, have a great deal to look forward to through 2015 from both Apple and Google, and while these charts are by no means definitive, it’s certainly good to see two of the biggest names in modern tech topping the pile.
Thoughts?
(Source: Fortune)
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