Most Admired Tech Companies

‘Globalization is forcing companies to do things in new ways’ says Bill Gates, but the result is already here for us to see today. Large scale influence of products, technologies, modernization of already existing ideas, has revolutionized the world beyond recognition and technology companies across the world have played their role to their fullest in making this happen.

But some of them remain the most admired tech companies. Fortune Magazine has yet again compiled a list of 50 most admired companies in different sectors (a survey which is based on answers to innovation-related survey questions asked to executives of global corporations), twelve technology companies below have been able drive home the message of ‘Technology at Its Best’ and help them get counted within top and Apple is the runaway winner, winning the title fourth time in a row.

1. Company: Apple

Rank: 1

Overall score: 8.16

CEO: Tim Cook

Apple's core competence in delivering exceptional experience and its sensational products like yet-to-be-launched-most-hyped- iPhone 4 have always set the bar for other tech companies to tow in line for the most coveted prize to be the best. Apple’s worth of more than $500billion in market caps and its continuous efforts in giving something new and unique to the end users has shot it to the top slot of the most admired.

2. Company: Google

Rank: 2

Overall score: 8.22

CEO: Eric Schmidt

Google- the most favored search engine stands right next to Apple, in being the most admired company. The company is also the favorite for its free open source operating systems-Android and the company states that it activates devices loaded with its Android operating system at a rate of over 10 million every month. Theme related Google Doodles has got the users in close proximity with the search engine which might be one of the reasons for it to be second most admired.

3. Company: Amazon.com

Rank: 3

Overall score: 7.45

CEO: Jeff Bezos

Amazon is trying to crack a new technique by sacrificing profits in the short term to let it gain in the long term which is evident with the fact that 2011 revenues climbed to $48 billion and its net income dropped 55% to $631 million. But each one of us knows the Kindle Fire, the tablet by Amazon which sold like hot cake last holiday season alone with 6 million units.

4. Company: IBM

Rank: 5

Overall score: 7.79

CEO: Ginni Rometty

The company which holds its stature for the largest influx of patents across the year,

IBM (International Business Machines) was born in 1911 from the merger of three disparate-seeming businesses to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. And 100 years down the lane, IBM recorded an annual profit of $15.9 billion, a 7% year-over-year increase.

IBM’s idea of a Smarter Planet through its ongoing campaign, by the same name is rendered to solve real-world problems, from traffic congestion to water management.

5. Company: General Electric

Rank: 15

Overall score: 6.82

CEO: Jeff Immelt

The fourth quarter profit increase in 2011, by 39 cents per-share came as a surprise to the analysts from a company which continues to struggle through the challenges that hit during the recession. But Jeff is slowly trying to steer the company away from finance and back to manufacturing to help the giant corporation grapple with its ongoing turbulent situations.

6. Company: Microsoft

Rank: 17

Overall score: 6.48

CEO: Steve Ballmer

Microsoft’s continuing efforts to launch itself aggressively in the cloud with its products like Office 365, Windows Intune, and Dynamics CRM Online 2011 and the company’s purchase of

Skype, the Internet phone company for $8.5 billion - largest in purchase ever set it into the right track. Added to this already growing tech Giant was the deal with Nokia struck for $1 billion-plus, where Nokia will promote and develop phones using Windows Phone as the primary operating system.

7. Company: Samsung Electronics

Rank: 18

Overall score: 6.50

CEO: Geesung Choi

Samsung had emphasized innovation in its management strategy since the early 2000s and since then come a long way. Digital Media, Semiconductor, Telecommunication Network, and LCD Digital Appliance, TV segment, and its market position is dominant for the best LED and LCD panel displays.

8. Company: Intel

Rank: 36

Overall score: 7.80

CEO: Paul Otellini

Ranked number one for its flagship product—semiconductor, Intel is the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker.  Although Intel created the world's first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became its primary business. From SRAMs to super computers, Intel has done it all. It’s Intel Inside Program hit it off very well with consumers.

9. Company: e-Bay

Rank: 41

Overall score: 6.43

CEO: John Donahoe

eBay is one of the largest global commerce and paymentssites. Founded as an online auction site for users to sell and buy goods, it continues to impress with earnings upto $3.2 billion in profits on sales of nearly $12 billion. After the acquisition of PayPal, which the company took over in 2002, the popular payments service added roughly one million new users each month last year.

10. Company: Cisco Systems

Rank: 42

Overall score: 7.19

CEO: John T. Chambers

Ranked 2 in the world for its Network and other Communication equipments, Cisco calls itself the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. A major provider of Voice over IP, Cisco is now moving towards home user market through its acquisitions.

11. Company: Accenture

Rank: 43

Overall score: 7.57

CEO: Pierre Nanterme

The largest consulting firm in the world, and ranked 2 for its Information Technology Services, Accenture's current clients include 96 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500 companies.

12. Company: Oracle

Rank: 49

Overall score: 6.58

CEO: Lawrence J. Ellison

Ranked 4 in computer software, Oracle after some of its high profile acquisitions, enlarged its share of the software market; Oracle had the third-largest software revenue, after Microsoft and IBM in 2007.