IBM still world’s top tech brand. Where will Facebook rank?

In October of last year, Interbrand released its annual report of best global brands. IBM came out on top as the most valuable tech brand, with Apple making the biggest jump from #17 to #8.

Facebook doesn’t appear on the list since its not a public company, but with Facebook’s IPO looming, one wonders where it would place.

The report’s methodology takes into account the ways in which a particular brand affects its organisation and it focuses on three key aspects namely: the financial performance of the branded products or services, the role the brand plays in the purchase decision process — the effect of branded versus non-branded –, and the measure of a brand’s ability to secure the delivery of expected future earnings.

It’s unclear exactly how companies are ranked in the financial category, but if we take a retrospective look at market capitalisation for the uppermost and lowermost ranked technology companies — IBM at the high end and HTC at the low end — Facebook compares as follows. IBM and HTC’s market caps were US$220 billion and US$33.88 billion respectively at the time. Apple ranked lower than IBM, and yet its market cap was over the US$350 billion mark when the report was published. Once Facebook goes public, it will be worth an estimated US$100 billion. In terms of revenue, Facebook has some way to go to compete, raking in an estimated US$4 billion this year, a number which HTC achieved in one fiscal quarter.

Here’s Interbrand’s complete list of top brands for 2011.