Apple was tops in BrandChannel's survey for in the US/Canada rankings, but was second to Google in the global survey: "The Global Brand of the Year goes to Google, which narrowly beat out Apple for the second year in the row as the brand that had the most impact on our readers in 2003. " Apple was the No. 1 Global Brand of the Year in 2001 and fell to No. 2 in 2002.

"[Apple's] continued presence at the top of the list is the result of consistent attention to wowing the world on an ongoing basis. Apple products and services span many different facets of our lifestyles from work to play and include the iPod mini, iTunes, Xserve, iChat AV, iSight, and iCal. The brand makes beautiful, compelling product but then somehow loses its foothold against sub-par product from brands like Microsoft."



Mini, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Ikea, Nokia, Nike, Sony, and Starbucks were in the top 10 global rankings (respectively), while Target, Google, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, JetBlue, Nike, Pixar, Coca-Cola and eBay were among the top 10, respectively, in US/Canada rankings. Apple was No. 2 in brand impact in the US/Canada in both 2001 and 2002. Dell slipped in the US/Canada rankings from No. 9 in 2002 to No. 25, while Microsoft climbed from No. 26 (2002) to No. 16 (2003) in the same rankings.