Is it Microsoft? No. General Electric? No. Coca Cola? No. Wal-Mart? No. Bank of America? No. Who could it be boys and girls?

Well it’s Google who once again who holds the top spot.

The doomers and gloomers who counted Google out for the count need to take two steps back and take another look at the search giant. Google is doing something right. The article states:

Google, the world’s top brand, led a parade of technology companies in Millward Brown’s annual ranking of top international brands. Google kept the top spot with a brand value of $86 billion, better than General Electric, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and China Mobile.

While Google gets most of the attention, its tech brethren made the biggest strides last year. The sector grew by 33 percent last year, outpacing all others except mobile operators, which grew by 35 percent. The two sectors combined accounted for 28 of the top 100 spots, with a brand value growth of $187.5 billion.

Apple broke into the top ten for the first time, moving up 9 spots to #7, one below IBM. Nokia took the #9 position while Vodafone came in at #11. Bay Area titans Hewlett-Packard came in at #16, followed by Cisco at #22 and Oracle and Intel at #26 and #27 respectively.

This is the second year in a row where Google topped the list. The company grew 30 percent in brand value from $66 billion last year. The tech scene wasn’t all rosy. While RIM’s BlackBerry jumped into the top 100, Motorola dropped from #60 to #92.

Also of note is that Apple is now in the top ten. Congrats Apple! Those Apple vs PC ads must be working.

Comments welcome as always.

Full SF Gate article is here.