Apple Brand Value Drops $38 Billion

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) brand value dropped $38 billion over the last year. Consultancy Brand Finance reported that the figure dropped from $145.9 billion in 2016 to $107.1 billion in 2017, specifically, down 27%.

In the process, Apple lost its position as the world’s most valuable brand. In that regard, it was passed by Google, the search brand of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The Google figure rose from $88.1 billion to $109.5 billion for the two years measured.

According to “Global 500 2017: The Annual Report on the World’s Most Valuable Brands”:

Apple’s evangelists are beginning to lose their faith. The snaking queues of early adopters have shrunk almost to the point of invisibility. Apple has failed to maintain its technological advantage and has repeatedly disillusioned its advocates with tweaks when material changes were expected.

Put simply, Apple has over-exploited the goodwill of its customers, it has failed to generate significant revenues from newer products such as the Apple Watch and cannot demonstrate that genuinely innovative technologies desired by consumers are in the pipeline. Its brand has lost its luster and must now compete on an increasingly level playing field not just with traditional rival Samsung, but a slew of Chinese brands such as Huawei and OnePlus in the smartphone market, Apple’s key source of profitability.

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That was before Apple crushed earnings in its most recently reported quarter, which drove its shares to a one-year high:

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2017 first quarter ended December 31, 2016. The Company posted all-time record quarterly revenue of $78.4 billion and all-time record quarterly earnings per diluted share of $3.36. These results compare to revenue of $75.9 billion and earnings per diluted share of $3.28 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”

Oops.

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