Sony branded number one...again

Electronics giant tops Harris Interactive survey for seventh consecutive year; Dell, Hewlett Packard, Apple make the top 10.

While Sony might fight with Nintendo and Microsoft for brand recognition and approval when it comes to the world of gaming, the electronics giant's brand name has a significant leg up on the competition when it comes to the general American public.

Market research firm Harris Interactive has released the results of its annual "Best Brands" survey, and Sony has topped the list for the seventh consecutive year and the ninth time in 12 years. Microsoft slipped from the top 10 in this year's poll, while Nintendo was shut out of the upper echelon.

Harris surveyed 2,351 US adults online and asked them "to think about brands or names of products and services" and to name the three they considered the best. Respondents were free to pick whichever brands they preferred and were not given a list of options or possible answers.

The top 10 companies in this year's poll are listed below.

1. Sony
2. Dell
3. Coca-Cola
4. Toyota
5. Ford
6. Honda
7. Hewlett Packard
8. General Electric
9. Kraft
10. Apple

343 Comments

  • ballashotcalla1

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 11:54 am PT

    SONY SUCKS my cuz had a ps2 and it broke and i used to have a Sony Vaio laptop and guess what happened to it

    360 better than ps3 bcuz of price, gears of war and other games, and LIVE

  • rob3nelson

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 12:50 am PT

    When it sets its mind on it, Sony can produce a great product. In the early '80s, for instance, I remember Sony audio products were considered the cream of the crop. These were the days when the Walkman was all the rage! I know quality when i see it. The Playstation was quality. The PSP is quality. The Playstation 2 is not. I've had to replace two of them. Why bother? Because every developer worth a grain of salt chooses to publish on that crappy platform, while many of the Japanese ones (who develop the RPGs I like) refuse to publish on the American XBox or XBox 360 platform because they consider American products inferior. Now, you have to be a fool to be an American and to contribute to your own trade deficit by buying products made by and for companies in Japan that consider your own cututre to be inferior. But, then again, Americans have a reputation for being foolish, so maybe it's no surprise.

  • tashpool

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 5:10 pm PT

    Just some info on Sony's blu-ray tech: larger disc size doens't always mean larger game sizes (for the example of debugging put forth).
    But it does mean, one version of a game/program for multiple territories, more storage for larger textures which equals higher resolutions, and the ability to expand if the need is there.

  • dt2003

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 5:03 pm PT

    heres my list:
    1) I

    2.) DONT

    3.) CARE

    4.) !!!!!

    BUT I LIKE SONY

  • Paper_Knife

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 3:48 pm PT

    they don't just have kick @$$ products. sony also has a major film and record production.

  • tr00pa_26

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 3:05 pm PT

    SONY's cool
    microsoft eat dust

  • crills

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 2:38 pm PT

    one more thing blue ray sucks cause if it takes game maker 1 or 2 years to debug a game and finalize it on current gen consols think how long its going to take on a 50 gig blue ray disk and thats just the beging of problems we mite get games not even finished or we mite get the same game that came out 4 the 360 just on a blue ray so you just paid xtra 4 the disk like gta is going on both of them sytems but its not going to be longer on the ps3 remember the biber the disk the longer it takes to make a game and i dont know about you i hate the summer for that no games come out

  • crills

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 2:15 pm PT

    stop wit all the sony talk i went shoping 4 a tv in one corner a sony 60 inch 4000$ dollers in the other a panasonic4 2500$ i turned on both sets and believe me or not the pansonic was better and cheaper so sony lost that one

  • milkweed989

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 12:19 pm PT

    for those of you who think sony charges too much you guys are complete idiots they charge what the item is really worth and like ryan1234 said other companies just produce an inferior item and charge half the price i prefer quality over quantity thats why imma get the ps3 and im going to enjoy it because its going to be 10x better then the xbox360

  • ryan123423424

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 10:53 am PT

    From another angle, Sony are also feeling the pinch from advances in technology; it used to be they were the clear uncontested supplier in certain areas (TVs, Hifi etc), but as the years pass it becomes inevitable that a competitor can produce a similar item that is 80% to 90% of the quality, but costs 50% of the price. This explains why many of you, or your parents have drifted away from Sony over the last 5 years - you really can buy items that are 'almost' as good, but noticaly cheaper, elsewhere - this is reflected in Sony's share values which if I'm not a mistaken, aren't as rosy as they once were. However, getting back to the poll - it reflects that the typical consumer 'knows' Sony products are generally 'higher quality' and perceived as reliable - which has nothing to do with the fact everyone might be buying from someone else. It was concentrating on brand awareness, not actual sales.

  • dyvasey

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 10:51 am PT

    These may be well-known companies, but one can hardly argue that they are the 10 best.

  • Kcube

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 10:48 am PT

    Well Coke Beats Pepsi >_>

  • messin18

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 10:47 am PT

    Hehe shibipocanibo. So you still have you're betamax tape player and your mini disk player?

    I recently purchased the sony 50" 1080p hdtv. The quality was there and it was good tv... But i actually decided to go with the samsung 50" because of the design of the tv and the fact that it actually accepted a 1080p signal instead of upconverting.

  • YEPEE00

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 10:22 am PT

    hehehe...that is a really bad...list.

  • shibipocanibo

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 9:42 am PT

    Good ol' Sony. Never had a better TV than a Sony, never a better remote control, never a better gaming system, never a better boombox, never had a better portable cd player, never a better component system, never a better DVD player....well...I guess you get the point.

  • Attitude2000

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 9:41 am PT

    No McDonald's?

  • king_tim

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 9:24 am PT

    i just love sony products.

  • Robotnik07

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 8:47 am PT

    Just because the price is high doesn't mean its a crappy company.

  • nick1500

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 8:11 am PT

    Sony is number one. Bulls**t. Those guys charge a hefty sum for a system and slap on a term reliable. I mean if u going to have any system it is going to be obvious you are going to have to take good care of it. Sony made the list coz it is everywhere. + sony is gettin kinda arrogant these days.

    COKE RULES

  • Alex_das_menina

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:43 am PT

    Sony is a good brand in Brazil too. Has good reputation. Japanese companies has good reputation here.

  • rpgisforme

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:42 am PT

    sony tops the list because it is the best !! long live sony, long live playstation, lol

  • BigV25

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:40 am PT

    I just want to know how Ford got in there.
    Oh and They are not judging Sony as a video game company but as an electronics company which I have to admit is doing very well.

  • trolley98

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:14 am PT

    I HATE SONY!

  • joz90

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 6:25 am PT

    Sony RULES!!!

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 5:16 am PT

    what sad poll results.

  • PwnageUK1989

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 4:20 am PT

    COKE!?!? WTF? they kill workers in the americas coz they want a union!!!!!

  • judge__judy

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 1:22 am PT

    Sony does kickas$ in electronics

  • PSDUDE

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 12:22 am PT

    TO CLEAR THIS UP TO PEOPLE THAT DON'T UNDERSTAND POLLS. I used to do surveys for a company much like "The Truth", the anti-smoking commercials you see all over TV, and it was hard enough to get like 3-4 people a day to do the survey. To get almost 2400 people to do this survey must have taken a lot of staff and hours in order to accomplish. My main point is that this poll actually had a more than decent amount of random people used. It's probably more accurate than other polls considering many of them use about 1,000 people if not much less. So please stop letting your "fanboy" hate determine the credibility of this poll.

  • rwbojorquez

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 11:45 pm PT

    i'f had about 5 things from sony high end becuase it cost a lot after the extended warranty was over it went bad. I don't buy sony anymore. Just my luck.

  • CaptainDingo

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 10:38 pm PT

    I love macaroni and cheese.

  • Zeppelin1988

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 10:15 pm PT

    What a stupid report. Of course people will think of Sony First. Its frreakin everywhere.

  • mr111111

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 9:39 pm PT

    Who cares? I mean, ask yourself, be honest. Do you actually care about this?

  • powerincarnate

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 9:37 pm PT

    It's more than simply Sony has a lot of commercials and thus why they are number 1. Just think about this for a moment.

    Why do Toyota and Honda have such a good name and such high resell value. Is it because Toyota or Honda have the most commercials?, Is it because Toyota or Honda Sponser the most television programs? Is it because Toyota or Honda have their hands in other products like Food, drinks, books, toys, and so on? NO, NO, NO. Toyota and Honda, and to a smaller extent Nissan, have such good names because their product are Highly reliable, Highly efficient. In the world of cars, that means, won't break on you that easily, Won't waste your gas as much, and when it is time to sell it, you get a high price for it, which makes it more than make up for any price differential they may have against a competitor.

    Why do you think Hyundai in the recent past and Mitsubishi now have such bad names. There was a time, you couldn't give someone a Hyundai car. They're foreign companies so any well it's foreign excuse for Toyota or Honda is thrown out the window. Without getting into a long reason like Toyota conversation, Hyundai Cars broke down Way to easy, and thus because quite useless once you reach 90-100 thousand miles. (That is after a very trouble filled life span from 0-100). In general, alot of these Ameriecan Cars also are junk once you get into the 100s. That is why you can get a 2000 Ford Explore (2000 is no tthat long ago), with 100 thousand miles for like 3, 4, 5 thousand, while the same 4Runner is like 11, 12 thousand dollars. This is why Hyundai tried to turn itself around recently, giving you such a long guarantee of 10 years/100 thousand mile guarantee, to try to "proove" to us that their product isn't as worthless as the word on the street say.

    What does this have to do with Sony, simple, Sony products often lasted long, often provided the best quality (like image quality with their TVs), often had the deepest library (games, music, movies), And genearlly were very good products. (now just because Sony is still number 1 doesn't mean it didn't slip. In the world of TVs, DVDS, Monitors, Samsung may have passed Sony for Quality. But sony have never slipped that far behind. In fact, the only product that as a Whole, that sony really sucked in has been PC DVD burners.

    PS. Let's get rid of fanboy PS2 vs. XBOX crap because this is more than just this section of a company. Also, part of the reason why 2/3rds of the people don't have SONY products is because they are more expensive. A large portion of the population will by the cheapest but still good quality product around, and often that is made by an obscure company. (Think Lexus, Great cars, a lot of people want them, doesn't mean all can have them).

    Finally, Why is Microsoft so low, Simply, Windows. 95% of the computer users have it, But, when ever their computer crash, or something goes wrong, Windows is often blamed. There are over 50,000 viruses for Windows, Considerably less for Apple, and thus why Apple often has a good name. I'm sure if apple had 95% of the population, there would be tons of virus for it's platform as well.

  • krimla

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 9:10 pm PT

    I loved Sony in the early to mid 90's, but the Sony products I have bought since the late 90's have been sub-par quality. That being said, I still buy Sony products (TV's and game systems mostly), but each time I purchase one I get closer to buying a Samsung.

  • GYROCX

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    "Sony has topped the list for the seventh consecutive year and the ninth time in 12 years."

  • Jrock7

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 8:09 pm PT

    Sony has done a lot for the community. It had also co-developed most of the software we all use. Now they are developing Blu-ray and pretty soon everybody is going to use Blu-ray. It'll be the same as when DVD's were first released (expensive and nobody knew it would work). Sony has made great decisions, but also lied about a lot of things. Even so, they are better than most, but not number one in my head.

  • mohorovicic

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 8:00 pm PT

    So WOW....All of you that are saying 2,351 people is inacurate know nothing about polling formulas. The Zogby polls which are the most accurate in the nation use a random sample of 2000 adults when taking polls. You people need to think before you speak every once in awhile instead of blindly bashing Sony or any other company you have a grudge against.

  • Kfoss

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 7:37 pm PT

    2,351 adults,?!? wow less than .01% of the country...yea you say thats accurate....RIIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTT thats less than the population of the 4 SQ mile city that i live in,...

    and as for sony in general, Yea they do make good hardware..but these days i seriously question the quality of there products, i had a $500 dollar Dvd system complety die on me that was from them...they quit supporting my TV set-a black XBR2, the TV tuner died in that had to find a specialist to repair it, they stuck ROOT KITS on Cd's and that installed with out the users knoledge-compromising there secuirty by providing a back door, which they
    denied, but later were found to be covering there own ass's

    the list gose on...
    now granted i dont hate sony but im getting sick of there crap, and the $600 dollar price tag for the Ps3 isnt helping either..

  • PiNoYPrOjEcT

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 7:01 pm PT

    damit.. Microsoft really needs to put up more ads on T.V. that is actually about the XBOX 360.. not some people with imaginary guns shooting at each other.. yeah.. like that will make me buy a 360..

  • 69GOD69

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 7:01 pm PT

    Boooooo !

  • thedarklordrand

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 6:52 pm PT

    On a note totaly unrelated to gaming its amazing to see how much better forgein products are doing compared to American products as opposed to 10 even 5 years ago.

  • PimpnPolyester

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 6:36 pm PT

    this still dosent sway my opinion about what products i buy or not...

    im an adult i can easily tell which product is better than the other and the only reason sony tops this chart isnt because of gaming or their hardware products its because of their ability to let themselves be known...

    anyone who dabbles in everything will obviously be known when asked about it, but because they dabble is exactly what makes them a horrible company they have their hand in everything that they give poor service and hardware for it all and if it isnt poor it is mediocre i go for the specialists not the dabblers

    regardless if ill be "flamed" or not if you went on the strreet and asked 100 random people their top 10 companies you will hear sony, but then ask them what brand their PC is or their TV or their VCR/DVD player i can guarentee that 2/3's of them will give you a brand other than Sony...

    Sony thinks iIts good to dabble in a product for money, i want a company that specializes in just one thing and does it far above "good" Microsoft, Apple and companies other then sony do that...

  • lhardwick692

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 6:11 pm PT

    Sony makes all kinds of products and sells alot of them--sony is number one and when ps3 comes out--they will remain number 1--microsoft is a software company--but they cant create a program that doesnt lock up--crash --freeze--whenever they can create something thatdoesnt do all of these--then by all means let then begin making products like sony--
    sony is number one because they see what people want and instead of rushing it out and trying to make money off of it before other companies can collect on the technology---sony takes time and gives the people what they want--again--ps3 isnt rushed like the 360 was--and ps3 will prevail-
    all hail sony---

  • darkfox101

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 6:08 pm PT

    LOL ur an idiot if u think sony made top for gaming which I bet half of you r thinking.. its all around stuff.. microsoft is on SOFTWARE but sony does make good lasting TV's etc. ^^ go SONY! boo ps3

  • Maui00

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:59 pm PT

    Coca-Cola rulez!

  • princeofgames90

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    As i will vote and i'm not scared i am a sony FanBoy and for every one else whats you problem crying all dai about sony consol altogh its not ower subject hear

  • topraman517

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:51 pm PT

    "So apparently kraft is releasing the mac n cheese box "
    Yeah, where are all the Kraft fanboys? Represent!

  • Zikiri

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:17 pm PT

    So apparently kraft is releasing the mac n cheese box

  • damned_beast

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:14 pm PT

    that is a lie

  • Robacon1

    Posted Jul 16, 2006 5:00 pm PT

    Where to start? I suppose I should point out that a poll of 2,351 people is hardly an accurate representation of American consumers. Also, the reason that those brand names made the top ten is most likely the intensive advertising each of the companies has been doing. I can't turn on my tv without being inundated with adverts for each of those brands. As to the poster asking where the viruses for Mac and Linux are, ask a hacker. The lack of viruses has nothing to do with the falsely percieved "invunerability" of those platforms. If you wanted to wreak havok, wouldn't you want to affect as many people as possible? And for you Sony fanboys, I have a few questions; have you ever heard of "betamax"? How about Mini-disk? Even memory stick, which isn't even cross campatible with itself? Just one more.........if Sony is the greatest maker of game consoles and gaming accessories,etc. ever, how come they can't put a dent in gameboy sales?

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