Apple's fourth-quarter results were released yesterday, showing how the organisation had its most profitable quarter in the company's history.

The firm recorded its most Mac and iPhone sales, resulting in revenue of around £6 billion.

Apple reported sales of 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 million iPhones.

Steve Cheliotis, the director and chief executive of the Centre for Brand Analysis, was particularly impressed with Apple and emphasised how the organisation was able to capitalise on its competitive advantage.

He continued: "What you'll notice is that the key brands may not have grown their revenue, but they've grown their brand."

"It's been reaffirmed once again that a strong, well-regarded brand is the greatest differentiation between poor business and successful business."

Despite this market capitalisation, Apple is still not one of the top five most valuable brands in the world according to the Milward Brown Optimore Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009 list, which named Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM and McDonalds as its reigning champions.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).