Consumers, as a whole, are very uneducated

Bose has, if nothing else, one thing going for it -- not brand loyalty, but brand recognition. Recognition is by and far the most powerful tool for retail.

Unlike TubeRacer, I've had only one Sony product go defective -- a car CD player. It wasn't until I actually started selling car stereo from a specialty shop that I realized the poor quality of Son'y car audio equipment. However, I've never had a problem with any of their other products -- home theatre received and speakers have been running great for 4 years now and never had a problem with the received. The DVD player hasn't given me any trouble over the same 4 year period, and doesn't show any hints to slowing down. Never had a Sony TV or a Sony computer, but I do plan to own one of each.

Sadly, negative press always garners more attention than positive press. One person says "Fuck Bose. Fuck fuck fuck." and 45 people read it. 10 people say "Hey, Bose isn't bad." and no one gives a shit because that's what they expect to hear. That's a basic rule-of-thumb in public relations and in advertising.

I'll agree that the people who complain about Microsoft products are either a.) born and raised in Macland or b.) dumb as a brick. As far as software is concerned anyway. I still don't trust the Xbox, and the 360 makes me cringe. I've seen more photos of people hanging those huge power bricks from the ceiling just so it doesn't touch anything and to keep air circulating around it. See, the negative press thing works.

Nintendo stuff on the other hand....double-edged sword from my experience. I've purchased as many SNES's as I have PS2s. The Nintendo 64 is another matter, but then again I hardly used it. Not to mention I didn't play it for the same length of time as I did the PSone. Now the regular Nintendo...I hardly ever got mad at the game. I got more mad at the goddamn system for giving me that jumbled screen instead of letting me play the cartridge. The NES was, literally, a waste of breath for me. If only canned air were around and in abundance back then as it is now.

On the topic of just straight-up trust in an electronics company, I give my whole trust to only oen company -- Pioneer. I've got a lot of faith in them, as I've never had a defective product from them over numerous CD players (purchased by choice, not force), speakers, wires, etc. The only bad thing is that the upper portion of Pioneer products is their price matches their quality -- high. But once I make a decent income, I'll start making the choice between a full Sony setup or a Pioneer one, regarding my home theater.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Again though I want to point out it's not so much brand loyalty as it is brand recognition. Recognition plays the largest role -- think about how many Ford/Chevy commercials you see on TV as opposed to Mitsubishi/Honda.

That's got nothing to do with loyalty.

There's nowhere I can't reach.