Harris Interactive published in June its findings from the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend which measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers on more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands across over 155 categories.

Harris Interactive has over 500 employees and it does its work by "Utilizing the most appropriate mix of media, tools, and methodologies [to] turn relevant insight into actionable foresight."

Well……. then……. they must know what they're talking about……. I guess.

….from: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/AboutUs.aspx http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/PressReleases/tabid/446/mid/1506/a...

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

Tech Categories are Full of Multi-Year Award Companies - Apple, Hewlett Packard and Verizon Wireless; NewEgg.comhttp://NewEgg.com Makes Debut Appearance

NEW YORK, N.Y. - June 25, 2013 - 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.

"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.

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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