Which brand is better for a digital camera?

I'm looking around for a new digital camera, a compact & small one, and I was just curious as to what brand is the better one. The three I'm curious about are 'Nikon', 'Canon' and 'Sony'. I seem to be leaning more towards a camera by 'Sony', but I don't know. I want a nice camera, but I also don't want to spend a fortune. ANy help would be greatly appreciated!

All of those are good brands.

I have an Olympus C990, & I received a Canon PowerShot A3100 IS for Christmas. I like both of them.

Canon has better image quality