Apple, makers of the iPhone and iPad, once held the top spot as the most trusted company in the US, but not anymore. Amazon has knocked it off its spot. This is according to a poll that surveyed 14,000 people.
Apple was at the top of the Harris Interactive Reputational Quotient survey last year. Google was in second place, while Amazon held at fourth. This year, Amazon is now on topped, followed by Apple. Google is now at fourth place.
The list also includes Microsoft, which is at fifteenth place. Facebook made its debut this year, landing at forty-second place.
Speaking to Yahoo! Finance, Harris Interactive’s Robert Fronk said that its falling reputation is due to the fall in its stock price.
Fork said, “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. 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.”
Amazon’s rising reputation is not only due to its products and services, but also in the way it handles its customer’s information. Fork said, “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.”
In the past, Apple was criticised for flaws in its system, which compromised privacy.
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