Apple Pulls a Hat Trick with Brand of the Year Status Across Three Harris Poll EquiTrend® Categories

NEW YORK, July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- While many have questioned the post-Steve Jobs fate of Apple, the company continues to hold its spot as a top technology brand across three mainstream categories, according to findings from the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend® (EQ) study. In its first full year under Tim Cook's stewardship, Apple took home repeat Brand of the Year distinctions in three categories - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone - in the annual study, which measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers on more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands across over 155 categories.

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"Americans continue to give Apple brands strong ratings," says Manny Flores, Senior Vice President at Harris Interactive. "And while their Consumer Connection scores are strong within their respective categories, what really stands out is that in all three of the categories Apple brands are measured – Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone – its Brand Momentum scores are in the top 30 of all 1,500 brands evaluated in the study, showing that consumers see this as a brand of the future." Consumer Connection measures a brand's Emotion, Fit, Trust and Performance; Brand Momentum is comprised of Energy, Ubiquity, Future Outlook, Leadership and Popularity.

Apple crunches three categories' worth of competition

Apple continues to hold the top spot among computer manufacturers, earning the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend Brand of the Year. Strong scores for all elements of Brand Equity (Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration) keep the brand at the top.

"Despite a drop in Apple's Quality score for this year, their Brand Momentum score increased, which was driven by increases in Ubiquity and Popularity scores," continues Flores.

Hewlett-Packard computers holds steady year-over-year behind Apple computers, but has been unable to match the peak its Brand Equity scores reached in 2011. Also finishing above the category average are Dell, with strong Familiarity and improving Purchase Consideration scores, as well as the style-focused Sony computer brand.

Computer brands ranked above category average:

1. Apple Computers - 2013 Computer Brand of the Year
2. Hewlett-Packard (HP) Computers
3. Dell Computers
4. Sony Computers

Other Computer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Acer Computers, Asus Computers, Compaq Computers, Fujitsu Computers, Gateway Computers, Lenovo Computers, Panasonic Computers, Samsung Computers, Toshiba Computers

In the world of tablets, Apple's iPad series, which expanded its offerings in 2012 with the iPad mini, receives the Tablet Brand of the Year distinction for the second consecutive year. Amazon's Kindle Fire series, which also expanded in 2012 with the addition of HD and larger offerings, follows. "While both the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle Fire series of tablets show small gains in Brand Equity for 2013, they both receive strong increases for Purchase Consideration," says Flores. "These increases show how the relatively new Tablet technology has grown to meet the needs of both the sophisticated and first time tablet buyer."  Google's Nexus series, Samsung's Galaxy series and HP's Slate series tablets also out-perform the category average.

Tablet brands ranked above category average:

1. Apple iPad Series – 2013 Tablet Brand of the Year
2. Kindle Fire Series
3. Google Nexus Series
4. Samsung Galaxy Series
5. HP Slate Series

Other Tablet Computer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): BlackBerry PlayBook (Tablet), Microsoft Surface (Tablet), Motorola XOOM (Tablet), Nook HD Series

Another product category, another repeat Brand of the Year Brand of the Year title for Apple. For the second consecutive year, the iPhone earns the 2013 Mobile Phone Brand of the Year title. HTC, Samsung and LG, each with Android phones in their lineups, also outperform the category average.

Mobile Phone brands ranked above category average:

1. Apple iPhone – 2013 Mobile Phone Brand of the Year
2. HTC Phone
3. Samsung Phone
4. LG Phone

Other Mobile Phone brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Blackberry Phone, Kyocera Phone, Motorola Phone, Nokia Phone, Pantech Phone, Sanyo Phone, Sharp Phone, Sony Phone, T-Mobile Phone

Verizon clearly not phoning it in

Also scoring repeat Brand of the Year accolades in multiple categories, Verizon receives the top position in two mobile service categories:  the Pre-Paid Mobile Carrier Brand of the Year title (for the second consecutive year) and the Mobile Network Brand of the Year title (for the third year in a row). 

"Both Verizon brands receive strong scores straight across the board, including in the areas of Consumer Connection and Brand Momentum," comments Flores.

AT&T also scores ahead of the category average for both of these categories, while TracFone Wireless outperforms the Pre-Paid Mobile Carrier category average.

Mobile Network brands ranked above category average:

1. Verizon Mobile Network – Mobile Network Brand of the Year
2. AT&T Mobile Network

Other Mobile Network brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Alltel Mobile Network, CenturyLink Mobile Network, Cricket Mobile Network, Sprint Mobile Network, T-Mobile Mobile Network, Virgin Mobile Network, Vonage Mobile Network

Pre-Paid Mobile Carrier brands ranked above category average:

1. Verizon Wireless (no contract wireless phone) – Pre-Paid Mobile Carrier Brand of the Year
2. AT&T GoPhone (no contract wireless phone)
3. TracFone Wireless (no contract wireless phone)

Other Pre-Paid Mobile Carrier brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Boost Mobile (no contract wireless phone), Cricket Wireless (no contract wireless phone), MetroPCS (no contract wireless phone), NET10 Wireless (no contract wireless phone), Virgin Mobile (no contract wireless phone)

HP sets the tone(r)

When it comes to printing, Hewlett-Packard continues to be recognized as the Printer Brand of the Year for 2013. HP maintains its strength across all measures of Brand Equity, including Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration, as well as Consumer Connection and Brand Momentum, proving Americans still continue to connect with the brand.

Other brands ranking above the category average include Canon, Kodak, and Xerox, with Samsung moving above the category average for 2013.

Printer brands ranked above category average:

1. HP Printing & Imaging – Printer Brand of the Year
2. Canon Printing & Imaging
3. Kodak Printing & Imaging
4. Samsung Printing & Imaging
5. Xerox Printing & Imaging

Other Printer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Brother Printing and Imaging, Dell Printing & Imaging, Epson Printing & Imaging, Konica Minolta Printing & Imaging, Kyocera Mita Printing & Imaging, Lexmark Printing & Imaging, Panasonic Printing & Imaging, Ricoh Printing & Imaging, Sharp Printing & Imaging, Toshiba Printing & Imaging

Newbie Newegg.com named Online Computer Retailer Brand of the Year

Lastly, this year includes a new study category  looking at where consumers shop for and purchase computers online.  Newegg.com rises to the top of this new study category to earn the Online Computer Retailer Brand of the Year title. While not the most Familiar brand in this category, Newegg.com enjoys strong Quality and Purchase Consideration scores. Underlying Newegg.com's strong Brand Equity score are strong Consumer Connection scores.  Also ranking above the category average are Microsoft.com, Store.Apple.com and BestBuy.com.

Online Computer Retailer brands ranked above category average:

1. Newegg.com – Online Computer Retailer Brand of the Year
2. Microsoft.com
3. Store.Apple.com (Apple Store)
4. BestBuy.com

Other Online Computer Retailer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): CDW.com (Computer Discount Warehouse), Dell.com, HPShopping.com (Hewlett Packard), Store.Sony.com, TigerDirect.com

Harris Poll EquiTrend® Methodology

A sample of 38,814 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over were surveyed online by Harris Interactive from January 11 through February 8, 2013 and the survey took an average of 35 minutes to complete. The sample was from the Harris Interactive online panel of respondents, a database consisting of over a million cooperative respondents who have double-opted in to be randomly invited by Harris Interactive to take part in online surveys. The total number of brands rated was 1,511. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 40 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 1,000 ratings. Data were weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over based on age by sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online. This is the same precision weighting approach Harris has used to become the leading online polling organization when calling elections.

The Brand Equity Index is the keystone to the EquiTrend program providing an understanding of a brand's overall strength. A brand's Equity is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration. Brand of the Year is determined by a simple ranking of brands.

An academic study concluded that when using the Harris Poll EquiTrend® Brand Equity model to determine brand value (as opposed to a financially-based measure of brand value), the stock performance of the top brands consistently surpassed the market during the 2008 financial downturn. The academic study findings appear in the September 2012 issue of the International Journal of Research in Marketing in the paper titled, "The Performance of Global Brands in the 2008 Financial Crisis: A Test of Two Brand Value Measures." The paper was authored by Johny K. Johansson, Claudiu V. Dimofte and Sanal K. Mazvancheryl.

The Harris Poll EquiTrend® study results disclosed in this release may not be used for advertising, marketing or promotional purposes without the prior written consent of Harris Interactive.

Product and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Harris possesses expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing our client's research investment. Serving clients in more than 196 countries and territories through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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