PC World had an interesting article yesterday regarding whether Microsoft is losing their credibility. According to a study by CoreBrand Microsoft comes in at number 59 out of 100 when looking at the most powerful U.S. company brands. This came from a survey of 12,000 U.S. business decision-makers who were asked about the reputation, perception of management, and investment potential of the top companies in the United States.
Is a 59 out of 100 that big of a deal? Not normally. Making it anywhere in the top 100 is a big achievement, but for Microsoft they were sitting comfortably at number 11 just 3-years ago. They’ve dropped 48 spots since then, and are nearly the most rapidly declining company on the list. Holding steady in the top 10 are:
- Coca-Cola Company
- Johnson & Johnson
- Hershey Foods
- Harley-Davidson
- Hallmark Cards
- Campbell Soup
- UPS
- FedEx
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Starbucks
When it comes to the companies in the computer category only IBM, Microsoft, and Toshiba have weaseled their way into the top 100. IBM is currently number 18 (down 5 spots from 2004), Microsoft is 59 (down 48 spots from 2004), and Toshiba is 71 (up 32 spots from 2004).
So why do you think Microsoft is declining so fast? Are they dipping their hands into too many different markets, and are therefore blurring the boundaries of what their brand represents? I don’t think it’s going to help matters once Bill Gates steps down from the company in the coming months.
View Top 100 Brand Rankings [via PC World]
Thanks to Omar for the tip!
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Tags: Software, Computers, Microsoft
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Off the top of my head, they can’t play fairly (EU Anti-Trust suits), Linux & OpenSource patent infringement accusations, Windows Genuine Advantage, Vista Ultimate lack of ‘advertised’ features. Just to name a few.
MS are losing credibility - no doubt about it. If they botch Windows 7, like Vista, they’re gonna have a long hard road to get back from that.
Of course they are.
I didn’t even think of some of the things you listed, but those are definitely areas where they aren’t pleasing the crowd.
Well, the thing is that Windows 7 probably won’t differ that much from Vista. I doubt Microsoft will change the visual appearance much, and will probably just focus on making it more stable and faster. That’s not a bad thing by any means, but I don’t think it’s going to redeem Vista like some are expecting. But on the bright side it probably won’t hurt application compatibility either.