Apple's brand valuation is $153,300,000,000 -- good enough for best in the world, according to Millward Brown's Brandz recent report.
The iPad played no small role in the 84-percent increase in value from 2010 -- a value that supplants Google as the top brand in the world. Google's value fell 2 percent to $111.5 billion.
The report points out that Apple's meteoric growth -- and substantial lead on other brands -- is due to continuing iPhone success, an entire new computing category with the iPad and the company's anticipated move into cloud computing.
Facebook was the biggest overall gainer in value with a 246 percent spike in it's brand value, making the Brandz list at the 35th position.
Another success story that just makes sense when discussing software giants? Starbucks. Starbucks saw a 40 percent increase ($11.9 billion), due to its revitalization efforts started two years ago.
