Apple vs Samsung

APPLE VS SAMSUNG
Question

a. Apple was always ahead, how did Samsung came so close and even surpassed Apple? Samsung is gaining fast on Apple in terms of brand affection – but we seem reluctant to admit it.
In Interbrand’s 2013 brand index, a benchmark measure of brand value, Apple came out on top, ending a 13 year run by Coca Cola. The signs are though that Samsung, which has been investing heavily in brand loyalty and not just marketing, is now challenging Apple in this crucial area of marketing, as analysts look across a wider range of social media and psychometric levers.
A “brand dependence” index revealed at CES last week suggests that more people are dependent on the Samsung brand than any other in consumer electronics. The index is the brainchild of UTA Brand Studio, a brand advisory firm.
The inaugural quarterly Brand Dependence™ index, focused on technology and consumer electronics, reveals that Microsoft and Samsung topped the list of technology brands that consumers say they can’t live without and relate more to themselves.
In fact Samsung, marginally, beat out Microsoft. The methodology probes feelings about a brand, notably how integral a brand is to a person’s life and how often and naturally a brand comes to mind.
On the upside for Apple, it scores higher for people with salaries of over $50,000. But separate studies show that both Samsung and Microsoft are taking the consumer brand battle to Apple and winning.
Forrester reported just before CES that Microsoft was the leading consumer brand in consumer tech according to its True brand compass research, with Apple inching ahead of Samsung in brand resonance but not in trust where they are level. The TRUE methodology claims to measure how trusted, remarkable, unmistakeable and essential (TRUE) brands are to consumers.
I pointed out at the time of the XBox launch that trust in Microsoft