According to brand, communications and media research company Millward Brown, Apple’s decision last week to enable Apple owners to install and run Microsoft Windows operating software on their new Intel-based Macs, creates a huge opportunity for revenue and brand growth.

Apple Mac customers will now be able to take advantage of the ‘Microsoft safety net’ – enabling them to run all of the key mainstream applications that Microsoft supports. At the same time they get themselves a ‘cool’ PC terminal. While there is some risk that Apple could damage the brand prestige that it has built around its OS X operating system, this is insignificant compared to the potential gains.

The findings of a new BrandZ™ ranking of the world’s most powerful and valuable global brands was launched earlier this month by Millward Brown Optimor, the specialist financial and ROI arm of Millward Brown. The study shows that Apple has the most to gain in the battle of the brands. The company’s analyst, Malte Nuhn, comments: “the position of Microsoft as the world’s most powerful brand is unlikely to be affected by Apple’s move. At the same time, Apple, currently the world’s 9th most valuable technology brand and 29th most valuable global brand, has a lot to gain.”

“The success of the Apple brand is not just about the design of the Mac but also because it has a smooth, slick and exclusive operating system, it’s OS X,” he continues. “It is likely that many consumers and business users will flock to buy Apple's box now that they have the opportunity to run Windows XP as the operating system and all of the other applications that support it. They are buying the coolness of the Apple brand that they want to associate their lifestyles with. But once they have started using OS X, many may never actually ‘use’ the Microsoft operating system.”

Consumers are increasingly buying computers for the terminal rather than the operating system, a trend that has benefited Apple. And, as computers become integral to the home and web-based, further distance between computer users and the operating system occurs. “Ultimately, the OS X would have not been such an important contribution to the brand power of Apple,” adds Nuhn. “Though security is the one area where the operating system still matters a lot.”

”The Apple brand carries significantly more weight than Microsoft in the home,” comments Nuhn. “And as people become more comfortable navigating different interfaces, they may even prefer a system at home that does not remind them of what they use at work – such as the Apple Mac.”

But if Windows is losing relevance, and Apple has the upper hand in the battle for the living room, why is BootCamp such a big deal? “The answer,” says Nuhn, “is simple. Apple may win on the trend for coolness, but until now they had a huge target group of consumers who would really like to own a Mac but end up buying a PC with Windows, albeit reluctantly: they just don’t know for certain if OS X is right for them. BootCamp addresses this issue head-on: it is an insurance policy, and a powerful promise that says ‘we know you will be better off with a Mac - but if you're not, by all means, just install Windows‘. Switching to Apple just became a lot less nerve-wracking.”

BrandZ data shows that Microsoft’s brand is driven by 'popularity' (ie sheer scale and presence and current monopoly). It is a cold but admirable brand. Apple’s brand is a strong innovator with higher emotional affinity with consumers. It is a warm and 'for me' brand. Peter Walshe, global brand director at Millward Brown adds, “In fact consumers are so pro-Apple that if they can ride that emotional wave with good product availability in the right place in the right format they will surf to success.”

The BrandZ database is the world’s largest global branded study conducted by Millward Brown for WPP that covers more than 30,000 brands across the world and which has been running since 1998. It interviews more than 650,000 consumers globally.