Digital Trends

Forrester Research's 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard ranks Microsoft's "brand trust" 20th out of 22 consumer electronics and computer makers.

Would you buy a used car from this company? How about a portable electronics device?

Forrester Research's2005 Technology Brand Scorecard evaluated the "brand trust" reported by 4,732 U.S. households during September and October 2005 regarding 48 technology brands, 22 of which were "device brands" including companies like Apple Computer, Sony, Intel, Nintendo, and Panasonic.

While the study found that Sony, Panasonic, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft have the highest brand adoption—meaning, respondents reported owning products from those companies—only HP cracked the top five in terms of brand trust, and Microsoft brought up the rear in terms of brand trust and was ranked 20th out of the 22 companies overall.

Microsoft was also the only company cited as having a negative brand potential, as measured by its respondents aspiring to use its products mine current users at risk of defection. "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." Also scoring poorly: Gateway and LG Electronics.

Among the top-scoring companies? Dell, Apple, and (surprisingly) Bose lead the trust ratings, while Bose, Dell, IBM, Pioneer, Zenith, and Philips were found to have the most "brand potential" in terms of being able to grow their businesses by appealing to mainstream consumers.