and the much-quoted story about apples (see below). The network's new business performance is generally solid though not perhaps spectacular; in 2011 it captured the US Sprint Nextel account, one of

was subsequently dropped because of the dominance of Apple in this sector. It was back on the agenda in 2007 as a result of the shift by music copyright owners towards downloads without the copy-protection

2 brand in 2016 (behind Apple), with an estimated brand value of $133bn. However, Millward Brown's Brandz survey ranked Google as the world's #1 brand, with an estimated value of $229.2bn. Both surveys

Apple is accelerating development activity on its previously rumoured electric vehicle project, according to the WSJ. Though the company has issued no firm details, it is understood to have designated

from low-cost Chinese manufacturers on one side and Apple on the other put a big dent in Samsung's financial performance for the year. Revenues fell almost 10% to the equivalent of $196bn, and net profit

Not surprisingly, Google and especially Apple widened their leads at the top of the table. Apple's valuation rose by 43% to over $170bn, compared to a 12% increase for second-placed Google to $120bn.

Apple CEO Dick Cook managed to mitigate some of the early damage - Apple is the world's most valuable company, after all, and China a key market for it - with a well-timed email to CNBC pundit Jim Cramer.

Not everyone was struggling though. Apple delivered spectacular results for its own 1Q, fed by iPhone 6 and rapid expansion in China, where sales virtually doubled. CEO Tim Cook told investors, "Demand

the sun before imploding in the wake of Samsung and Apple's global dominance of the sector. A pioneer in what later became known as smartphones, Canadian manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) arguably

One was Apple's elevation to the top spot, overtaking Google (though the rival Top 100 from Omnicom's Interbrand, published last September, already had Apple at #1). The other involved the elevation