Is Negative Publicity Causing Apple to Lose Its Cool?

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Posted May 7, 2010 at 1:48pm by iClarified

Has the negative publicity surrounding Apple — the Gizmodo affair, the Flash conflict, the rejected apps, the patent disputes, the Jon Stewart shredding — done damage to the Apple brand?

Fortune reports that YouGov's BrandIndex has put the question to the test.

The index tracks the "buzz" of some 1,100 consumer brands — including Apple — by interviewing 5,000 people every weekday and asking them "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?" Scores can range from 100 to -100.

As you can see in the chart below Apple's buzz with 18-34 year olds reached its peak on March 18, 2010 with a score of 80.2. Since then its been dropping and currently scores at 66.1.

"Apple has definitely lost some steam with the adult 18 – 34 demo," says a BrandIndex spokesman, "although they are still doing well."

Read More [via 9to5Mac]

Is Negative Publicity Causing Apple to Lose Its Cool?

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Noman - May 8, 2010 at 5:34am

This is definetely true - i can tell you that im one of those people who have started to question Apples strategy big time, and yes it has lost big alice of its coolness in my opinion. I used to love Apple and everything they did but the direction they pursuing now is something that makes me think about alternatives or on workstationwise lack of it. I would love to get iPad with full internet experience (=Flash support) but since its impossible idea for mr.jobs im looking into Android and will def give it try asap its ready for idevices. About half a year ago i wouldnt even think off it... So big loss in Apple brand and coolness factor! Written o.n my iPhone - soon to be Android device. Now we only need Nokia to jump on the Wagon and help Google to develop an iDevice killers.

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AJG - May 8, 2010 at 3:19am

Honestly apple should be getting worried. When iPhone came out they had no real competition, the app store was all you had and there was no other choices. Now choices are coming and well the limited choices apple has will come back and bite them in the butt if they don't fix it. I had a non-jailbroken iPhone for 3 weeks until spirit was released and I have to say I don't know what I would do without apps like backgrounder, winterboard and a few other apps that just make you think why the app store doesn't have them or even worse, why they weren't default features. It also makes me wonder what the PC would of been if when windows and mac OSes came out they used apple's app store approach and every game/application microsoft had to approve. wonder if they would of survived or been as popular as they are now. sure the app store helps with stability but does it really make it better.

Rez - May 8, 2010 at 2:02am

This is a span of 5 months. Not a good enough graph to be considered longitudinal.

love-apple-cant-stand-jobs - May 7, 2010 at 2:20pm

Well, let's see: 1) Steve Jobs is a tyrant who seems to have forgotten where he came from, and is only concerned with ruling the world or, at the very least, controlling how people receive their technology. 2) Can't take jokes about their products...even from ones as loyal as Ellen DeGeneres, who is a self-proclaimed apple fanboi. 3) Continues to lead the technology space with closed source hardware and software, which may be awesome and user friendly, albeit controlled to the point where still, to this day, an iPhone user cannot customize their phone with themes unless jailbroken. This is, for the most part, the John Sculley Apple that we all hated. I know Steve has a life threatening disease, but does that mean he has to take it out on the rest of the planet? You have nothing left to prove--the iPhone was your greatest creation. Now let's all enjoy it and future products the way we should--by opening them up and allowing developers and users to be creative and artistic with customizing them. So, yes, Apple needs to lighten up and get back to its "hippie" roots.

fenrry - May 7, 2010 at 7:58pm