Monday’s Apple rumors – Apple Beats Google in ‘Beauty Contest’

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InvestorPlace
Here is your daily Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) stock news and rumors for Monday. The big headline, though no surprise, is that the iPhone and iPad maker is the top brand in the world — knocking Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) from the #1 spot. Valuable Branding: Market research group Millward Brown’s 2011 BrandZ study was published on Monday morning and found that the Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) name has been knocked off its pedestal to #2 in the list of most powerful brands. According to the BrandZ study, the Apple brand is worth close to $153 billion, $42 billion more than former #1 Google and 84% larger than Apple’s previous value in 2010. Apple’s iPad was singled out by Peter Walshe, the director of BrandZ, as the key driver behind the brand’s growth. IBM (NYSE: IBM ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ), and Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ ) filled the numbers three through five slots respectively on the list behind Apple and Google. Conde Nast Comes to iPad: Following Hearst’s decisions to bring their magazines to Apple’s iPad tablet comes Conde Nast and its stable of famous periodicals. According to Media Memo’s Peter Kafka , Conde Nast has released an updated version of The New Yorker for the iPad, charging $5.99 per month for the magazine. Annual subscriptions cost $59.99, just $10 less than a year-long subscription to the print edition of the magazine. As Kafka points out, Time Warner’ (NYSE: TWX ) imprint Time Inc. is the last significant hold out still not offering subscriptions through the iPad, though it did strike a deal with Apple to give print subscribers access to free iPad editions of publications like Sports Illustrated . Old Models Outsell Android: Canacord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley claims that following checks with U.S. retailers, there’s evidence that older models of the iPad and iPhone are outselling newer Google Android devices. According to Walkley, the iPhone 3GS has outsold the Motorola (NYSE: MMI ) Atrix and HTC Inspire phones through AT&T (NYSE: T ). The original iPad sold out through Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) following the March release of the iPad 2. A surprising highlight of the report is Walkley’s statement that iPad competitors the Motorola Xoom and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) PlayBook have enjoyed “modest sales” when all other accounts have claimed that those tablets have failed to make any impact at retail. As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at  @ajohnagnello and  become a fan of  InvestorPlace on Facebook.