Apple is no longer the most trusted company in America, according to the 2013 Harris Interactive Reputational Quotient survey. Instead, the title is given to Amazon. The survey has been done by 14,000 people who have ranked different companies. Google is on number four position, while Microsoft is on fifteen. Last year, Apple was the leader in the race with Google closely following in second place and Amazon was behind in fourth place, but the trend has changed this year. Have the American consumers lost faith in Apple products? Is it possible that consumers have been putback by issues clouding the accuracy of Apple Maps app, or has the new iPhone not lived up to everyone’s expectations? Rober Fronk from Harris Interactive blames the recent stock price falling.“For a number of years, [Apple’s] reputation was driven by their innovation, their products and services almost being ahead of their time and almost driving the market,” Fronk told Yahoo! Finance. “Now, actually, financial performance is a dominant driver of their reputation and of course financial performance can be somewhat out of your control, as they’re finding.” Fronk also suggested the reason for Amazon’s success. “They use that information to create the right level of intimacy with you, but without going over that fine line of being intrusive. Perceptions are that they’re not giving that information to anyone else to monetize it.”
Apple is all set to launch new products this year. Only time will tell if the new products and services can restore consumer faith in Apple or if the Cupertino company is on a downhill path.