Forrester Research’s ‘The 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard’ “collected feedback from consumers on 48 technology brands, including 22 that make consumer electronics devices. It then ranked them along two dimensions: the growth potential of the brand and the trust of the brand among regular users,” Eric Bangeman reports for Ars Technica. “Going by the results of the study, the biggest winners were Bose, Apple, and Dell. Bose scored strongest on both dimensions. Apple also scored very high on trust, but not as well on growth potential, while Dell scored very high on growth potential (second only to Bose), but closer to the rest of the pack in terms of trust.”

“At the other end of the spectrum was Microsoft, which was included due to its presence in the gaming console market. By a long shot, the software giant scored lowest on both dimensions. The score is a measure of consumer apathy and/or dislike towards the entire Microsoft product line rather than reflective of any distaste for the Xbox. Forrester thinks the score means that Microsoft could be headed for trouble,” Bangeman reports.

Forrester Research: “Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk. One measure of consumers’ dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that give it a brand trust score of 1 [distrust a lot] or 2 [distrust a bit]. Compared with all Microsoft users, these at-risk users have higher income, are much more likely to be male, and are bigger online spenders. These households know they run Microsoft software but would be just as happy to leave it behind — if they could.”

Full article with graph of the survey results here.

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