?A huge part of Apple?s business is geared around mobile,? said Jez Frampton, global CEO of Interbrand, New York. ?For Google and its Web-based business, a lot of its traffic has moved onto mobile. 

?We?ve seen some great stats recently predicting an increase of sales will take place on mobile this year,? he said.

The year of 2014 marks the second year in a row that Apple and Google have claimed the top positions.

Apple has increased its value by 21 percent and Google 15 percent. Apple is now valued at $118.9 billion and Google at $107.43 billion. 

These numbers mark the first time in history for Interbrand?s Best Global Brands ranking that two brands have reached brand values of more than $100 billion.

When determining the top 100 most valuable brands each year, Interbrand examines three key aspects that contribute to a brand?s value, such as the financial performance of its product and/or service, the role the brand plays in influencing customer choice and the strength the brand has to command a premium price or secure earnings for the company.

Amazon ranked 15. Facebook ranked 29 as the world?s largest social network. 

?Facebook is fastest growing brand due to its success for ads on its mobile platform,? Mr. Frampton said.

The technology sector leads as the most valuable category overall, while legacy and one-time leading brands struggle to evolve at the pace of change.

Apple is opening up opportunities for makers of mobile applications and boosting NFC payments by unveiling its first smartwatch and including a mobile payments solution in the iPhone 6. 

Apple?s much-anticipated announcement included the introduction of Apple Pay, which lets consumers use their phones and a credit card from an iTunes account to pay for items by Touch ID, and Apple Watch, whose features include the ability to look at photos, use Siri and reply to messages, and larger display screens for its iconic smartphone (see story).

Google?s rumored foray into mobile messaging, which is expected to launch in early 2015, could ramp up competition in the messaging space among leaders such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Following Google?s failure to acquire WhatsApp, the popular free mobile messaging app, the company is reportedly developing a separate app that is independent from the Gchat feature on Gmail. With many social networking sites adding chat functions, Google is the latest brand to hop on the bandwagon (see story).

Other brands should look to these brands and see that mobile presence is crucial for survival.

?Given an increase in mobile usage, brands and their value will be increasingly driven on that platform,? Mr. Frampton said.