Apple Brand on the Rise, Microsoft on the Decline

A recent survey of nearly 2000 professionals and students have named Apple has the most inspiring brand and one that respondents could not live without.

The results come in the wake of another poll of about 12,000 U.S. business decision-makers which indicate that Microsoft has dropped from the number 12 ranking of most powerful U.S. company brands in 2004, down to number 59 this past year. Further underscoring the trend, Microsoft previously ranked #1 in a similar brand survey in 1996. The fall in rank reflects a drop in the following ratings: overall reputation, perception of management, and investment potential

Though the survey gives no specifics about the nature of the decline, CEO of CoreBrand speculates that Vista's poor reception as well as Apple's "Get a Mac" television ads may have both contributed to the decline.

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