Apple Ranked First in Brand Impact in the U.S. and Canada

by , 3:45 PM EST, January 29th, 2007

Apple ranked first in the U.S. and Canada in the 2006 Readers' Choice "Brand Impact" survey conducted by brandchannel.com. The results were posted on Monday.

Apple held on to its previous number one spot in North America. Looking ahead, the report said, "In kicking off 2007 with the iPhone and Apple TV ... the company, which altered its brand by dropping "Computer" from its name, will likely be a top contender in next year's poll."

Globally, Apple ranked second to Google but only slightly ahead of YouTube in third place.

However, in other major geographical regions, Apple was not in the top five. In Europe, for example, the top five companies in brand impact were Ikea, Skype, Nokia, Zara (a Spanish clothing retailer), and adidas.

In the survey, the "brand impact" could be either positive or negative, with, for example, Sony being ranked positive for its Playstation 3 or negative for its battery recall.

More than 3600 people from 99 countries voted in the 2006 poll. Most voters were 26 to 35 years old and evenly split, male vs. female.