• by Karl Greenberg , December 16, 2008

Cox, AT&T, Comcast and Sprint/Nextel have something in common. They don't get high scores for "hipness" among tech-savvy consumers.

This fall, ABI Research did an online study among 1,001 tech-savvy consumers to gauge their perceptions of tech brands. The respondents were between the ages of 18 and 59. The company focused on 14 brands in gadgets and tech services, including Apple, Motorola, AT&T, Intel, Microsoft, Sony and Verizon.

Overall, Sony led in positive perceptions, with 82% of all respondents who were familiar with the brand saying positive things about the company. Among those with 69% or better positive perception, Apple was first, followed by Intel, LG, Samsung, Microsoft and Motorola.

Brands with 57% to 61% positive perceptions were Verizon, Cisco, Nokia and AT&T. The bottom brands in terms of perception (those with 42% to 45% positive notices) are Cox (which ABI says got the highest scores for consumer perception as a "boring" brand), Comcast (voted most overpriced) and Sprint Nextel. The most trusted brands were Sony, AT&T, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel, Verizon, LG, Cisco, Comcast, Sprint/Nextel, Apple and Cox.

When ranked by how they were perceived for quality, Sony was No. 1, followed by Samsung, LG, Motorola, Microsoft, Verizon, Intel, Cox, AT&T, Nokia, Cisco, Comcast, Apple and Sprint/Nextel. But when ranked for "cutting edge technology," Intel was first, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Sony and Cisco. Apple was also No. 1 among respondents when it came to perceived trendiness. Second was LG, then Motorola, Samsung, Sony and Nokia. Microsoft was second to last, and AT&T was ranked least trendy.

Cox was the most boring, followed by Cisco, Nokia, Sprint, Motorola and AT&T. The least boring brands were considered to be LG, Microsoft, Apple and Sony. Similar results came from "behind the times," with Nokia lagging the most, followed by Sprint, Cisco and Cox. The least behind the times, per respondents, were Sony, LG and Apple.