Apple Adjudged the Most Reputed Company, Beats Google

Apple has topped Google as the most reputable company of the year, according to a report from Harris Interactive.

Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient seeks to measure corporate reputation for the 60 most visible brands in the U.S. It awarded Apple with a corporate reputation quotient of 85.63, which is enough to displace a second-ranked Google with a score of 82.82.

The Annual RQ surveys more than 17,000 members of the American general public. The 2012 RQ survey was conducted from December 2, 2011 to December 19, 2011.

Only eight companies earned an RQ score of 80 or above that denote excellent reputation. Beverages giant Coca-Cola (No. 3), online retailer Amazon (No. 4) and multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate Kraft Foods (No. 5) round out the top five.

Apple ranked the highest in Financial Performance, Products & Services, Vision & Leadership and Workplace Environment, which are four out of the six key dimensions in reputation. The other two dimensions - Social Responsibility and Emotional Appeal - were topped by Whole Foods and Amazon.com respectively.

Apple's is the highest score the research firm saw for any company in the 13 years of the RQ study.

In line with the high marks in financial performance, Apple shares Monday climbed above $500 for the first time.

Last month, Apple (AAPL) trounced ExxonMobil (XOM) as the most valuable company in the world. Apple's market capitalization, at $467.21 billion, is now greater than Microsoft's ($257.43 billion) and Google's ($199.30 billion) combined.