Apple managed to grab a spot in Interbrand's Best Global Brands study for the first time in 2009. The Mac and iPhone maker landed in 20th place, putting it in the ranks with companies like Google, Intel and Disney.
Coca-Cola landed in the top spot, followed by IBM, Microsoft, GE, Nokia, McDonald's, Google, Toyota and Disney in the top ten spots. Businesses trailing behind Apple include companies such as American Express, Pepsi, Oracle, Sony, Nintendo and Starbucks.
Interbrand used several criteria for determining the best global brands including publicly available financial information, customer demand, how much revenue it draws from outside its home country, and more.
Several of the 100 companies listed in the annual report are technology-based. Other tech-based companies included Dell at 35, Amazon at 43, eBay at 46, Backberry at 63 ands Yahoo! at 64, and Adobe at 95.
The complete list of the top 100 Best Global Brands companies is available at the BusinessWeek Web site.