[Russianhaxor]

The power of the IT and ICT industries is most visible once the big research firms release their branding strength reports. For the past couple of years, a lot of WPP companies sponsored the research and publication of BrandZ, the world's top 100 brands report.

Almost one third of top 100 is occupied by IT and ICT companies, with Top10 being very interesting: IT firms occupy the #1, #2, #4, #6, #7 and #9 spots.

When it comes to their overall value, the Top 10 brands are worth 664.48 Billion USD , out of which IT/ICT firms take up 421.03 billion, or around 63.3% of the total value.

The number one spot went to Google again, but this year marks a milestone for the company - Google is the first brand to pass the 100 billion USD mark, a 16% growth over 2008. Microsoft came in second place, with $76.25B of name value. Apple's growth in the world of phones wasn't followed by the significant growth in brand value - the company still grew by 14%, and firmed itself in sixth position. Apple would probably be in Top5 if McDonald's didn't score a 34% YoY increase.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news...00b-value.aspx