Apple—long considered a consumer darling—has crossed over to become the top-rated business-to-business brand as judged by a new survey of small- and medium-sized business owners and executives.

The Cupertino, California-based technology company knocked two-year winner Southwest Airlines to the No. 2 spot for 2010, according to the report of 1,800 business owners, CEOs, and presidents of companies who employ less than 500 workers. The analysis, which was released today, was done by The Business Journals, sister publications of Portfolio.com.

Rounding out the top 10 are UPS, Holiday Inn Express, FedEx, Sony, Staples, Constant Contact, HP Printers, and FedEx Office. Among companies that saw their ranking slip when compared with 2009 were Microsoft, Adobe, Dell, Intel, and Best Buy.

“The business community believes that companies build their brands during down times and that if your brand supports their needs during an economic crunch, they’ll stay with you during the good times,” said Godfrey Phillips, vice president for research at The Business Journals.

“Apple was there to help small-business owners meet and exceed their technology needs with innovation, excellent customer service, and the creation of a whole new business category with the advent of the iPad,” Phillips said. Analysts and industry experts point to the game-changing tablet computer as the single-most important device for small businesses and entrepreneurs in 2010, which Apple has followed up with the iPad 2 this year.

Bill Shelton, president and principal of Left Field Creative, a boutique marketing and branding company in St. Louis, said Apple succeeded because first with the iPhone and then the iPad, it created a set of mobile and efficient products that allowed small business people to serve their clients in new ways.

“Apple has been seen as an innovator from day one,” Shelton said. “That’s attractive to startups and small-business owners who don’t want to be the followers or the ‘me toos’ but want to be the leaders.”

For years, the company was seen more as a consumer brand—known especially for the iPod music player or the iMac personal computer. Because the company did such a good job of connecting on an emotional level that the iPod, for example, became synonymous with the music player category, like Xerox did years ago when it came to copies. That’s only been extended with iPad. When most people think of tablets, Phillips said, the name that comes to mind is simply iPad.

Apple certainly may be on to something, since analysts said that advertising in general needs to have a personal touch in order to be effective. When it comes to business-to-business branding versus business-to-consumer branding, there actually isn’t much of a difference.

“While B2B might not be as ‘flashy,’ the same rule still applies. Companies don’t buy things. People within those companies do. As a brand, you still need to advertise to the consumer,” said Peter Shankman, a New York City-based marketing consultant.

In Apple’s case, the company only this year—and after The Business Journals compiled its brand research—has started to reach out specifically to a business audience with its Joint Venture program. That initiative, launched earlier this month, is targeted at the small business community and provides training and support for Apple products for approximately $500 a year per user.

Amy Bermar, president of Corporate Ink, a public relations firm in Newton, Massachusetts, said Apple’s reputation as a problem-solver may be driving a majority of its business. “Understanding the buyer, the customer’s emotional, economical, and psychological buying profile is essential,” Bermar said. “Who are they? How are they evaluated? What determines their bonus? What advances their career? What are the problems that get in their way?”

For others on the list of top brands, experts said reasons they stood out was because they provide solutions in a cost-effective, efficient, and reliable way. These qualities are what every company must do in order to be a major player in the B2B space.

For example, No. 2 ranked “Southwest is doing a nice job of converting to the B2B space,” Shankman said. “They’re listening to their customers.” Staples, which rose from a 22 ranking to the 7^th spot, has succeeded in expanding its B2B appeal to the larger consumer market, he said.

At Apple, though, the lines between consumers and business-owners continue to blur, especially as more Americans turns to entrepreneurship or “sidepreneurship” as a way to supplement their incomes during a still-tenuous recovery. And that could help fuel Apple’s dominance for years to come, even amid questions about CEO and chief visionary Steve Jobs’ health.

“When it comes to Millennials, they’ve had every accessory Apple’s made in the past 10 years and for them, using Apple for their business needs is a natural extension of their having grown up with the brand,” Shelton said. Add to that the company’s undisputed cool factor and you get a strong brand—to a point. “Apple’s biggest challenge in the next decade will be holding on to its brand’s consistency. It can’t lose its message, style, forward-thinking, and innovative nature,” he said.

John Luginbill, founder and CEO of the Indianapolis marketing and branding firm The Heavyweights, said he isn’t surprised about Apple’s standing and thinks the company is well-positioned to continue ranking high among business users.

“Apple’s value proposition makes a lot of sense to small- and medium-sized businesses,” he said.” Business-to-business customers are after three things when spending money on products: They want to be more efficient, more productive, and more profitable.”