Newegg. Never heard of them
I work with a number of people who work very hard finding the best electronic prices, They compare notes all of the time and I have never heard Newegg mentioned.
Makes me doubt the rest of the survey.
Americans love their Apples. A new Harris Interactive poll surveyed 38,814 US consumers, who ranked Apple as Brand of the Year in three categories: smartphones, tablets, and computers. "Americans continue to give Apple brands strong ratings," Harris Interactive SVP Manny Flores said in a release announcing the results. …
To be fair to the OP, in context: "They compare notes all of the time and I have never heard Newegg mentioned." He's emphasizing that Newegg never came up as the cheapest source for electronics, which is true. But then again, they don't ship from Hong Kong (except their new Asian marketplace), and they're trustworthy. I'm sure I could find rather cheap electronics on eBay and buy there....but why would I?
Hmm, unfortunately, they've not been my "fave" for donkeys.
My first printer was the Epson FX-80 connected to my Commodore PET. It lasted about 18 months and then blew some internal component which a local company managed to fix at hefty expense. In the late 80s I bought an early HP Deskjet - that lasted ages without fault and was passed onto another family member where it did stirling service for several more years. I'd replaced the HP with an Epson 700 Photo (if memory serves) colour inkjet which suffered from the usual ink nozzles drying up problem and died 2 weeks before the year's warranty was up. Epson replaced it with a refurbished 700 which lasted a while but still couldn't clean its ink nozzles if I didn't use it for a few weeks. At least with the HPs they are part of the (bloody expensive) ink cartridges. I vowed never to have another Epson printer again. Currently happy with an el-cheapo Dell-badged laser!
Interesting. Personally, I've never had a nanosecond of trouble with my years-old Epson R2880, and I've left it idle a month or more many a time.
Although, of course, now that I've said that it'll likely clog up the next time I try to print a high-res color photo.
Remember this is a survey about "Brand Equity" which Harris defines as "a brand's Equity is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration."
Since AT&T is likely to be very familiar to most folks and given limited number of national networks it is obviously in contention of purchases. Also note that just because they ranked above the category average it doesn't mean it is well loved it just means it's not most hated.
#1) Brand recognition is not brand love.
#2) Of course AT&T makes the list of mobile networks. They're the second biggest provider in America. There are a lot of places, like the boonies where I live, where the only options are Verizon, AT&T, and local companies that no one's ever heard of.
#3) Again, this is about brand recognition. Try to find someone who hasn't heard of MS and/or Best Buy. Go ahead, try.
Further proof you can't trust an American's taste....
Remember...this is the same nation that would be in favour of going to war with Canada over the "Silverfish Crisis" and whose politicians actually at one point were dumb enough (probably still are) to believe that Canada only adopted the 24 hour clock a few years ago and went on national TV congratulating Canada for this major step forward.
Two big factors...
1) Rabid Apple fanbois. No matter what, they will insist their device is the best on the market (even when it's got inferior specs), best vendor on the planet, even sometimes using twisted fanboi-logic to claim the expensive Apple fondleslab or computer is *cheaper* (usually by cherrypicking a very expensive Sony or some such to compare to, or comparing to a "comparable" device that is actually way higher spec.) Many of them even believed found "your holding it wrong" and "buy a carrying case" acceptable responses to Apple shipping phones with a defective antenna design. Even if you think I exaggerate, at the very least let's say they have a VERY loyal following.
2) Commoditization. For tablets and phones besides the Apples, the other models were all Android (well, the Amazon one is customized Android with it's own app store...) I won't say this is a bad thing, but it makes it that much harder to distinguish yourself on a brand awareness survey when you are selling yet more Android phones and tablets. For computers, of course, all but Apple are selling the ever-mediocre Windows 8. If I had to pick a machine, I'd either say "good condition used" or "System76" I guess, because I really don't want to send Microsoft *or* Apple any money.