• by Aaron Baar , July 25, 2013

While some of the bloom may be off the rose for Apple, the company still holds serious sway over consumers when it comes to brand preference.

According to Harris Poll’s 2013 EquiTrend study (which measures the perceptions of more than 38,000 consumers on more than 1,500 brands), Apple was the brand of the year in three different categories: computer, tablet and mobile phone. 

“The basic elements [of the poll] are quality and intent to purchase. Apple does well in those categories,” Linda Schulz, svp of multi-client research at Harris Interactive, tells Marketing Daily. “The consumer connection and the emotional component, the fit into [consumers’] lifestyle: Apple meets its brand promise.”

In addition to its high Consumer Connection scores (which rates a brand’s emotion, fit, performance and trust for consumers), Apple scored very well in the poll’s Brand Momentum category (which measures energy, ubiquity, future outlook, leadership and popularity). Apple’s Brand Momentum scores were among the top 30 of all 1,500 brands evaluated, Schultz said. 

Among computer manufacturers, Apple was the top brand based on strong brand equity, quality and purchase consideration). Hewlett-Packard was second, while Dell and Sony also posted above-average scores.

Apple also was considered the tablet brand of the year, with strong scores in purchase consideration. Amazon’s Kindle Fire followed, and Google’s Nexus series, Samsung’s Galaxy and H-P’s Slate also had above-average scores. 

Apple’s iPhone was also the brand of the year in the mobile phone category for the second year in a row. HTC, Samsung and LG also scored higher than the category average. 

Among telecommunications carriers, Verizon also took top honors in multiple categories, named pre-paid mobile carrier of the year and mobile network of the year. AT&T was also higher than the industry averages in both categories, and TracFone Wireless also scored higher than average in the prepaid category.