In the survey of almost 2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine Brandchannel.com Apple ousted search engine Google from last year’s top spot, but the surprise to many will be Al Jazeera’s entry into the top five.

Ikea still remains the first one in Europe followed by Virgin.In the third position in Europe there is a new entry in the top five, yet another swedish company, the clothing retailer H&M. On the fourth, the world’s leading cellphone maker, Nokia. In fifth position another (this time I would say surprisingly) new entry: the arab news network Al Jazeera, which managed to come in ahead way much bigger competitors like BBC or CNN.

The full results of the survey: Readers Pick Apple in 2004