Ground Floor: I'm probably a marketing department's worst nightmare because I'm not generally a person who is seduced by a particular brand.
I don't zone in on one name and exclude everyone else. Nor am I the kind of person who rushes out for the latest must-have innovation or new design from anyone. Tried, tested and a bit boring, that's me!
Except in the case of my computer. Regular readers know that I'm an Apple person and that PCs have never darkened the door of my home office. The reason is simple - Apple software is a million times more user friendly than the myriad incarnations of Windows; the applications look nicer on the screen and the computers are all design classics.
Given that people spend so much time these days glamorising their homes and making sure that everything looks like an interior design dream, I can never understand how many shove an ugly beige box in the corner when they could have the translucent colours or ice white of a Mac.
I can't rush out and buy the new iMac, which looks so utterly gorgeous (even though detractors mutter that there will be wires coming out of the back - haven't they ever seen ads for plasma TVs?) because I bought the round-based one at the beginning of last year and I really can't justify new hardware right now.
But Apple is hoping that lots of other people can. And its hoping that the brand awareness that it has built up from the fantastic success of the iPod will do it for them. (And, yes, I have an iPod. Slave to Apple fashion, that's me. But, hey, I also use it as a hard-drive backup so it's not all about trying to be hip-hop!)
Long under the cosh of the all-pervading Windows operating systems, Apple has recently been rated "outperform" by Piper Jaffray in the US.
According to the firm, they think that investors are still underestimating the power of Apple's retail strategy. The company's plan of new store designs in high-traffic areas has already paid dividends as core Mac performance has exceeded analysts' expectations.
Piper Jaffray are targeting a $40 price for Apple, a level that would have sounded insane two years ago when the stock was trading at $12. But this year it has shot up from around $19 to it's current price of around $36, a whopping 55 per cent increase - which makes Piper Jaffray's forecast a little lame. If they'd shouted outperform in January with a $40 target I'd be very impressed.
Anyway, Apple has finally managed to outperform Microsoft, whose share price has actually declined by around 2 per cent this year, although it's still trading around $27.
For so long the whipping boys, I'm sure the Apple executives are dancing around the boardroom. But they shouldn't get complacent.
Microsoft is apparently gearing up to get audio and video software into mobile phones before Apple manages to beat them to it. Although they've already got software into Motorola and NEC handsets, they're targeting market-leader Nokia.
And that'll be a bit of a blow for me because my other brand loyalty (although somewhat shaken of late) has been to Nokia. Generally speaking I've preferred its phones (if not its irritating ringtone!) to all the others. However, new models have been pricier than competitors and, like many other people, I've been disappointed by its inability to embrace clamshell handsets.
Nokia's US share price is down nearly 10 per cent on the year and is trading close to $13 but it's still the dominant player and my brand loyalty would be severely tested if they went down the Microsoft route.
Maybe I won't have any choice though. Last week Nokia joined forces with Motorola, NEC, Siemens and Sony Ericsson to announce their co-operation in mobile broadcast services.
The main target of mobile broadcast is mobile phone TV. These services are already being introduced into the Japanese market and are anticipated to be set up in European markets around the end of next year.
Technology and telecom companies have had a rough ride since the heady days when you only had to say "tech" to add another couple of noughts to the company's net worth. Investors are sceptical of consumer desire for many of the new products.
To be honest, I used to be myself. I couldn't really see the point of phones that could take fuzzy photographs on tiny screens. But, while I appreciate that the resulting image might not exactly be Mario Testino quality, I did get a kick out of sending a pic of myself on holiday to friends at home. (It's the mean, sadistic streak in me, I know.) Although, I have to confess that it wasn't my phone that took the shot because I haven't quite got round to getting a model with a camera in it yet. Last year, when I was choosing my phone, tri-band was the essential ingredient and Nokia couldn't manage to offer me one that managed to combine that plus photo-taking abilities. Now, of course, my one-year-old cameraless phone has been discontinued!
The success of camera phones, however, makes me less sceptical about the probability that people would part with more cash for TV phones. And if they do, it might mean that those very expensive 3G licences might finally start to pay dividends for the companies which bought them.
Perhaps they can then stop languishing at the bottom of the performance pile and bring a little joy back into their investors' hearts and wallets.
Sadly, though, for European holders of US-quoted stocks, the declining dollar is having a savage effect on the rates of return. Still, it's nice to see positive territory for my token Apple holding. Maybe the Nokia shares may yet have a tilt at an outperformance rating too.
