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APPLE has pipped Google as the world's most valuable brand � thanks to its iPads and iPhones making it worth $70.6billion. The mega valuation � equivalent to �44.6billion � rocked rival hi-tech giants to the core yesterday. Google is a distant runner-up at $47.5billion (�30billion) � just ahead of mighty Microsoft. Bill Gates's firm is worth $45.8billion (�29billion), according to the Brand-Finance Global 500 study. The No1 British brand is Vodafone � which also creeps into the worldwide top ten at No9. The �19billion mobile phone colossus is worth three times more than rival telecoms firm BT. HSBC bank is second in the UK table, followed by Tesco, then Barclays. Morrisons also makes the top ten here � just behind ninth-placed BSkyB. Retail experts say global economic turmoil has spawned "a new breed of recession proof and aspirational Alphabrands".