Does sub domain has the same authority like a domain. For instance, I have seen some sites rank. For instance, look at this site here. It is ranking for hugo boss perfume with no back link. If I get a sub domain and create that keyword, is there a possiblity I can rank with no backlink.
IMHO, for branding purposes a domain name is better. In terms of SEO, I think they can just be optimized the same.
sub domain has not the same authority like a domain. i take one example for explaining this when you create a blog in blogger.com then you find a sub-domain with blogger like http://onlineseoguideline.blogspot.com. please check http://vineet-seo.blogspot.com/ this blog has one(1) PR without having any back-link. You can also get rank with sub-domain but you will have good content in your sub-domain.