Most people in a recent survey by Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide said they stick with the tried and true when it comes mobile payments.

Ogilvy & Mather asked 500 online customers to rate the brands they’d trust to handle their mobile payments:

• Visa: 39.6%
• Mastercard: 35.9%
• American Express: 35.8%
• PayPal: 34.3%

No surprises there.

Flashy brand names not associated with financial services fared poorly in consumer trust:

• Apple: 22.9%
• Microsoft: 22.3%
• Google: 19.5%

Facebook landed at the bottom of the heap. Only 12% of those surveyed said they’d place their trust in Facebook payment processing security.

One recommendation: Smaller tech brands should join forces with the heavy hitters — the most-trusted brands — and use that partnership to show customers they can trust your level of security.

As usual, cutting-edge companies like Microsoft, Apple and IBM landed near the top of the list. But consider some of the more questionable choices, especially given some of the major factors that landed this country in a recession in the first place:

• CitiGroup (#36), JP Morgan Chase (#37), Goldman Sachs (#38), Morgan Stanley (#57). If you agree that the credit crisis and the housing crisis were two of the biggest contributing factors to this country’s current economic downturn, then you’ve got to wonder what right these companies have to be considered some of the best brands in the world. Collectively, these four companies accounted for more than $70 billion in federal bailout money.
• American Express (#22), Visa (#94). Risky lending practices, obscene credit rates, penalties, major default levels having a negative impact on business and an ongoing credit crisis still can’t stop certain credit card companies from maintaining a strong reputation both here and abroad.
• BP (#83), Shell (#92). Though Shell is making cutbacks and BP got major points for all the energy-efficient initiatives it’s undertaking (the list came out before the Gulf oil disaster), Shell is still digging itself out from a scandal that involved misrepresenting oil reserves. Not to mention the oil industry as a whole has seemed highly suspect ever since major oil companies started posting record profits a few years back, despite the highest gas prices in U.S. history.
• McDonald’s (#6), Burger King (#93). More than a third of American adults are considered obese these days, which makes people question whether we should really be applauding the idea of a fast-food diet? The argument for is that fast-food chains make it affordable for people to eat out on a shoestring budget. Burger King’s done well in the past year by running wacky ads and adding a do-it-yourself burger bar, while McDonald’s has gone toe-to-toe with Starbucks in the latte wars. But the question remains “What type of health-conscious America are we building when everyone’s advocating the supersize-me plan?”
• Marlboro (#17). Cancer, heart disease, emphysema … big tobacco’s got a corner on the market. Still, people are drawn to the addictive nature of smoking, and no company knows how to draw them in better than Marlboro.

Check out the complete list of BusinessWeek‘s “The 100 Best Global Brands 2009” below. No doubt each of these companies has made some positive contributions and established itself as a force to be reckoned with. But you’ve got to wonder what it says about consumers that these companies continue to thrive, given some of the choices many of them have made.

Are there any other brands you think shouldn’t have made this list? How about great brands that should’ve been included but weren’t? Share your opinions in the Comments Box below.

BusinessWeek’s 100 Best Global Brands:

1. Coca-Cola
2. IBM
3. Microsoft
4. GE
5. Nokia
6. McDonald’s
7. Google
8. Toyota
9. Intel
10. Disney
11. Hewlett-Packard
12. Mercedes-Benz
13. Gillette
14. Cisco
15. BMW
16. Louis Vuitton
17. Marlboro
18. Honda
19. Samsung
20. Apple
21. H&M
22. American Express
23. Pepsi
24. Oracle
25. Nescafe
26. Nike
27. SAP
28. Ikea
29. Sony
30. Budweiser
31. UPS
32. HSBC
33. Canon
34. Kellogg’s
35. Dell
36. Citi
37. JPMorgan
38. Goldman Sachs
39. Nintendo
40. Thomson Reuters
41. Gucci
42. Philips
43. Amazon
44. L’Oreal
45. Accenture
46. eBay
47. Siemens
48. Heinz
49. Ford
50. Zara
51. Wrigley
52. Colgate
53. AXA
54. MTV
55. Volkswagen
56. Xerox
57. Morgan Stanley
58. Nestle
59. Chanel
60. Danone
61. KFC
62. Adidas
63. BlackBerry
64. Yahoo!
65. Audi
66. Caterpillar
67. Avon
68. Rolex
69. Hyundai
70. Hermes
71. Kleenex
72. UBS
73. Harley-Davidson
74. Porsche
75. Panasonic
76. Tiffany & Co.
77. Cartier
78. Gap
79. Pizza Hut
80. Johnson & Johnson
81. Allianz
82. Moet & Chandon
83. BP
84. Smirnoff
85. Duracell
86. Nivea
87. Prada
88. Ferrari
89. Armani
90. Starbucks
91. Lancome
92. Shell
93. Burger King
94. Visa
95. Adobe
96. Lexus
97. Puma
98. Burberry
99. Polo Ralph Lauren
100. Campbell’s

some pretty sweet apps designed for the phone.

The appeal of the iPhone for many busy execs is the smartphone’s ability to run thousands of applications — from a Star Wars light saber (don’t laugh, this could come in handy at a board meeting) to an invoice generator.

Blogger Laura Rich at American Express’ “Open Forum” proposes five apps that a busy C-level exec might find handy for managing or monitoring cash flow. They include:

Quicken ($9.95/month per account)– Folks who use QuickBooks to manage cash flow can check their account balance, view latest transactions, enter them on the go  and take a look at how it’s all performing against monthly budget levels.

Calc-12E RPN Financial Calculator ($19.99 download) – Based on the most popular portable financial calculator out there, the 12E is ideal for business owners who need the accountant’s calculator on hand when they meet with investors, in real estate deals and the like, says Rich. It’ll let you enter and edit cash flows, add comparative investment analysis.

Spreadsheet ($7.99 download)– Who doesn’t need to look at a spreadsheet every now and again? This one will come in handy when you want to review Excel budgets from the road.

Credit Card Terminal ($49.99 to download, $25/month subscription, and $.24 per transaction) – So a customer or client wants to pay you on the spot — hey, it happens! You can collect the money with this app. No, it isn’t cheap but what price cash flow?

Omni Invoice ($9.99 to download) – Need to speed up the process of getting paid? This app lets you issue invoices from the road.

Along with these useful finance tools, there are also an array of free apps from the major banks (like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase) that will give you mobile access to your accounts.

And for those who want to keep tabs on investments and practice trading without risking cash, there’s iTrade Stock Market Simulator, another free app.

To help with your own personal cash flow, you can try iExpensit ($4.99 per download; there’s also a free, slimmed down version called iExpensit Lite), which simplifies daily expense tracking and stores photo receipts. It also lets you customize your personal and business expenses with simple reports.

For those times when the cash just isn’t flowing, you may need Loan Calculator – What if? (99 cents per download) that’ll calculate the monthly payment for any fixed rate load and let you view an amortization/payment schedule.

All these apps are available at Apple’s App Store where you can browse the ever-increasing array of software for the iPhone.