Apple has secured 20th position among the best global brands owing especially to strong sales of its products such as iPod and Mac OS software.

Lower prices of iphones also helped the company to jump to its current position from its earlier 24th spot.

As per Interbrand report, Apple's brand value stood at nearly $15.4 billion, representing a rise of 12 per cent.

The report was based on a number of decisive factors like brand's capability to hold back at least 1/3rd of revenues outside its country of its origin, publicly available financial data and positive economic value.

But, the report didn't include some brands like Wal-Mart as the group does not operate under the same name worldwide.

Apple's main rival Microsoft witnessed a fall of 4 per cent in its brand value, Intel and Dell suffered decline of 2 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.