14 DAY TRIAL // Many people have criticized Microsoft for its increasing focus on enterprises, but as it turns out, the company’s perception score among consumers is actually improving in the United States.
Data offered by YouGov shows that Microsoft is on the rise in 2018, having reached the highest perception score in the month of April.
YouGov says US adults aged 18-34 love the brand more than older users, with an impression score of 44 versus 39.
“As Microsoft focuses on expanding its cloud services, recent figures from YouGov Profiles show that consumers aged 18-34 are much more likely to use cloud-based storage than those aged 35+. Young people are also more likely to have confidence in the technology: 52% say they trust that using cloud storage is just as secure as saving information on their computer or phone, compared to 39% of Americans aged 35 or older,” the research shows.
By winning millennials, Microsoft is targeting Apple’s own userbase. A recent study conducted by MBLM showed that millennials considered Apple to be the brand they were most emotionally bonded with.
Controversial decisions
But according to this new research, Microsoft is killing two birds with one stone, and not only that it’s appealing to younger customers, but it is also investing in technologies that users in these age categories are betting big on for the future.
“US adults who hold a positive impression of Microsoft are more likely than members of the general public to believe that, in the future, artificial intelligence will help humans in most of their daily tasks (67% vs. 62%). At the same time, Microsoft admirers are also less likely to agree that people only worry about personal data on the internet if they have something to hide (20% vs. 24%),” YouGov says.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all just milk and honey for Microsoft in the consumer market. Some of the most recent decisions of the company have been received with much criticism by the user community, including the demise of Windows 10 Mobile, which basically put an end to Microsoft’s investments in the mobile biz.
