Survey shows Apple and Google are no longer American tech sweethearts

Market research from YouGov BrandIndex shows that Apple and Google have both fallen off the list of the 1o best-perceived brands in the US. Apple actually failed to make the cut for the second half of 2012, while Google came in last place. But this time, Google’s been knocked off the list by Amazon’s double placement: The rival now ranks both as a web retailer (second only to Ford) under its own name and is listed again under its branded e-reader, the Kindle (which, at number 9, beats Cheerios).
 
YouGov BrandIndex measures consumer perceptions by surveying them on whether they’ve heard anything good or bad about a brand in the past two weeks—either by advertising, news or word of mouth. Those responses combine to create a single numerical score from -100 to 100, with zero being a neutral balance of information.
 
So what’s going wrong for the tech giants? For starters, both were nailed with negative press when the US National Security Agency’s data mining practices were leaked. Neither have had many new or innovative product releases. Also, Apple is feeling the sting of losing the charismatic Steve Jobs as the face of the company.
 
More importantly, the golden days of being a tech darling are over. Gadgets like Chromebooks and iPhones have become so commonplace that Google and Apple have lost their edge. Rather than creating stuff that’s funky and cool, they make homely products akin to Ford-built trucks and General Mill’s cereal.