The official explanation of research company Millward Brown, which just declared Google the most valuable company, why Apple was dislodged from the top spot is linked to their brand values.

Apple's brand value decreased by 20 per cent to $148 million, while Google's brand value zoomed 40 per cent to $159 billion.

Peter Walshe, Milward Brown's Global BrandZ director, gave a cryptic explanation to the Telegraph, quoted by CNET. His answer was: "To gain more of our mind-space brands such as Google are making ambitious plays across existing category boundaries."

What he meant, according to CNET, is that among the new products of Google are self-driving cars, balloons and glasses, while Apple has phones, tablets and PCs, which have been around for quite some time.

But the rankings of Milward Brown to come up with the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Report uses also other tools, particularly the Optimor - a proprietary tool with closely guarded components - utilising data from 150,000 interviews with consumers from different parts of the globe.

The firm believes that across all markets, the small number of consumers who comprise a large part of sales or the loyal consumers, have more value to a brand than occasional users. Milward Brown said that frame of mind was a crucial factor when it analysed brand values.

Another confirmation of Google's differentiation from other brands is a report in Techcrunch that the company is planning to offer subsidised, commercial-grade Wi-Fi hardware to small- and medium-sized businesses. The move aims to improve vastly the quality of Wi-Fi experience at smaller enterprises such as doctor's offices, restaurants and gyms.

By providing better Wi-Fi in these smaller businesses, Google hopes to have more users spending on its apps and services even while they are away from the usual places where they access the Internet via Wi-Fi such as at home or in the office. Google also values smaller clients that may not immediately yield big profits, while Apple prefers to concentrate on manufacturing gadgets for the high-end market.