Apple is the favorite brand of Americans in the categories of computer, tablet and mobile phone, according to the latest Harris poll, which interviewed more than 38,000 US consumers in its annual consumer electronics survey.
The tech company first appeared in the poll’s top 10 back in 2006 before steadily working its way to the number one spot thanks to the success of devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
Computers, tablets, phones
Despite a drop in Apple’s quality score in the computer category, it still managed to see off competition from HP, Dell and Sony, which placed second, third and fourth, respectively.
In the tablet segment, it was Amazon with its Kindle Fire devices that came in behind Apple, with Google and its Nexus slates in third place, a ranking which could change next time around with the release this week of the new Nexus 7 – a well-received device that looks certain to pile even more pressure on the iPad Mini.
With recent figures showing iPad sales slipping, all eyes will be on what Apple comes up with in the fall when it could launch revamped versions of the iPad and iPad Mini. Of course, Amazon, too, will at some stage update its Fire tablets, a move that could see it steal the top spot from Apple in the 2014 poll.
Microsoft, with its Surface slate, was nowhere to be seen, though when the poll was taken at the start of the year, only its RT device was on the market, and even then it had only been selling for a couple of months.
As for mobile phones, the iPhone took the top spot for the second straight year, beating off competition from HTC, Samsung and LG.
Brand of the future?
Manny Flores, senior vice president at Harris Interactive, said Apple’s high scores for brand momentum, which focuses on elements such as energy, ubiquity, future outlook, leadership, and popularity, indicated that consumers in the US very much see it as “a brand of the future”.
The positive ratings for the company may be interpreted by some as an endorsement of Tim Cook’s leadership since taking over from Steve Jobs in 2011, but the CEO will be well aware that being thought of as a brand of the future is a million miles from actually becoming one. Cook is promising the arrival of a lot of “amazing” new products over the next 18 months, products that will have to impress if the company is to remain the darling of American consumers, a position which should ultimately lead to more revenue for the Cupertino-based firm.
Harris’s poll involved a sample of 38,814 US-based consumers aged 15 and over who were surveyed online from January 11 through February 8, 2013.
[Image: Percom / Shutterstock]
